Band 5, Heft 1

A system for recognition of emotions based on speech analysis can have interesting applications in human-robot interaction. In this paper, we carry out an exploratory study on the possibility to use a proposed methodology to recognize basic emotions (sadness, surprise, happiness, anger, fear and disgust) based on phonetic and acoustic properties of emotive speech with the minimal use of signal processing algorithms. We set up an experimental test, consisting of choosing three types of speakers, namely: (i) five adult European speakers, (ii) five Asian (Middle East) adult speakers and (iii) five adult American speakers. The speakers had to repeat 6 sentences in English (with durations typically between 1 s and 3 s) in order to emphasize rising-falling intonation and pitch movement. Intensity, peak and range of pitch and speech rate have been evaluated. The proposed methodology consists of generating and analyzing a graph of formant, pitch and intensity, using the open-source PRAAT program. From the experimental results, it was possible to recognize the basic emotions in most of the cases

This paper presents theoretical and experimental results related to the control and coordination of multirobot systems interested in dynamically covering a compact domain while remaining proximal, so as to promote robust inter-robot communications, and while remaining collision free with respect to each other and static obstacles. A design for a novel, gradient-based controller using nonnegative definite objective functions and an overapproximation to the maximum function is presented. By using a multiattribute utility copula to scalarize the multiobjective control problem, a control law is presented that allows for flexible tuning of the tradeofs between objectives. This procedure mitigates the controller’s dependence on objective function parameters and allows for the straightforward integration of a novel global coverage objective. Simulation and experiments demonstrate the controller’s efectiveness in promoting scenarios with collision free trajectories, robust communications, and satisfactory coverage of the entire coverage domain concurrently for a group of differential drive robots.

This paper shows a novel walking training system for foot-eye coordination. To design customizable trajectories for different users conveniently in walking training, a new system which can track and record the actual walking trajectories by a tutor and can use these trajectories for the walking training by a trainee is developed. We set the four items as its human-robot interaction design concept: feedback, synchronization, ingenuity and adaptability. A foot model is proposed to define the position and direction of a foot. The errors in the detection method used in the system are less than 40 mm in position and 15 deg in direction. On this basis, three parts are structured to achieve the system functions: Trajectory Designer, Trajectory Viewer and Mobile Walking Trainer. According to the experimental results,we have confirmed the systemworks as intended and designed such that the steps recorded in Trajectory Designer could be used successfully as the footmarks projected in Mobile Walking Trainer and foot-eye coordination training would be conducted smoothly.

Previous studies in the field of robot assisted therapy demonstrated that robots engage autistic children’s attention in a better way. Therefore, the interactive robots appear to be a promising approach for improving the social interaction and communication skills of autistic children. However, most of the existing interactive robots use a very small number of communication variableswhich narrow their effectiveness to a few aspects of autistic childrens’ social communication behaviour. In the present work, we explore the effects of touching and colours on the communication effectiveness between a robot and an autistic child and their potential for further adjustability of the robot to child’s behaviour. Firstly, we investigated touching patterns of autistic and non-autistic children in three different situations and validated their responses by comparison of touching forces. Results showed that patterns of touching by non-autistic children have certain consistency, while reaction patterns in autistic children vary from person to person. Secondly, we studied the effect of colour feedback in autism therapy with the robot. Results showed that participants achieved better completion rate when colour feedback was provided. The results could support the design of more effective therapeutic robots for children with autism.