A conversational robot utilizing facial and body expressions

Communication using non-verbal expression, such as gesture, eyeshot, posture and facial expression, plays an important role in human interaction. For example, in conveying spatial information of the position and/or size of an object, pointing actions also contribute to simplifying the verbal expressions. By nodding or changing facial expressions toward the speaker's utterance, humans convey their state of mind to the speaker and realize a conversable environment. No current conversational systems are equipped with such adequate communicational ability. The authors implement body and facial expressions and conversational function in a humanoid robot and try to realize a natural conversational system. As a result, effective use of the pointing action with verbal expressions "that one" or "this one" contribute to simplifying the verbal expression and realization of rhythmical conversation. In addition, proper feedback actions to the user with facial expressions improve the transparency of the system and the performance of the interface.