JAPAN: TOKYO PROFESSOR DEVELOPS ROBOTIC SILICON FACE, WHICH CAN EXPRESS BOTH ANGER AND HAPPINESS, TO IMPROVE COMMUNICATION BETWEEN MAN AND MACHINE

Record ID: 401980

  • Title: JAPAN: TOKYO PROFESSOR DEVELOPS ROBOTIC SILICON FACE, WHICH CAN EXPRESS BOTH ANGER AND HAPPINESS, TO IMPROVE COMMUNICATION BETWEEN MAN AND MACHINE
  • Date: 27th February 1996
  • Summary: TOKYO, JAPAN (FEBRUARY 27, 1996) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) 1. CU ROBOTIC FACE 0.04 2. CU SAD FACE 0.06 3. CU SURPRISED FACE 0.10 4. CU MOUTH 0.13 5. SV KOKI ENDO, 23, STUDENT, CONTROLLING FACE BY COMPUTER 0.17 6. CU COMPUTER SCREEN 0.19 7. CU EYES 0.22 8. CU COMPUTER KEYBOARD 0.25 9. CU ANGRY FACE
  • Embargoed: 13th March 1996 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: TOKYO, JAPAN
  • City:
  • Country: Japan
  • Reuters ID: LVAE5RUE6DE9V8YBZAWTVJYQYSSI
  • Story Text: Scientists in Tokyo have developed a robotic head which can see, think and make facial expressions.

    Tokyo University of Science professor Fumio Hara started work on the Face Robot three years ago and believes that it could be used one day to help people talk as quickly and easily with machines as they now can with other people.

    "I think the Face Robot represents at least a small improvement on the way man and machine have communicated in the past," Hara said.

    The Face Robot can contort its face to express six emotions -- anger, sadness, fear, surprise, happiness and disgust. Its skin is made of silicon and its 24 muscles are aluminium, hydraulic pistons.

    The Face Robot, which sports a short, black bob, painted eyelashes and bright, red lips, can also see through tiny video cameras mounted behind its eyeballs.

    Hara hopes that with the help of a more powerful computer driving it and more research, it might one day talk as well.

    Hara said people were afraid to give the Face Robot a name.

    "Thinking robots like it might one day replace computer keyboards and make it quicker and simpler for people to do everything from surfing the Internet to designing computer graphics," he said.

    Hara thinks the robot, developed with the help of his students, might be used by doctors and entertainers.

    "When you have difficulties expressing your emotions, laughing or smiling, maybe the Face Robot can show you how to express yourself," Hara said.

    A Tokyo beautician wants to use it to help young women develop the "perfect smile".

    The 10 million yen (100,000 U.S. dollar) robot, Hara said, might also add a new dimension to the ancient art of puppetry.

    Hara is reluctant to develop a torso and limbs to go with the Face Robot as he fears a more advanced version could be put to use on battlefields around the world.

    "With researchers around the world working on models of the human character, we are slowly moving towards a world of robots that will look, respond and behave like people," Hara said.

    "When we get to that stage, we are very quickly going to crash into the problem of what characters people give these robots," he said. "It's an issue I don't fully understand and one I'm staying away from by not giving the Face Robot arms and hands, because although touching is a form of communication so is punching."
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