Fuzzy inference-based mentality expression for eye robot in affinity pleasure-arousal space

An eye robot focused on eye expression and a mascot robot system are proposed as a casual communication robot systems with human friendly expression. A mentality expression system based on the affinity pleasure-arousal space by eye robot is proposed. The three-dimensional affinity pleasure-arousal space is proposed to express mentality states with fuzzy inference. The eye robot that performs eye motions is developed based on the human mechanisms. A mascot robot system is proposed as an internet-based robot application for casual communication in home environment. This mascot robot system is a network composed of four fixed type eye robots, one mobile self-propelled type eye robot, an information recommendation module, and the speech recognition module. The mascot robot system's functionality is demonstrated in a living room, where casual communication is conducted based on speech recognition and mentality expression of eye robots. The validity of the proposed mentality expression system is confirmed by communication experiments with 2 scenarios. The proposed systems provide casual communication between a human interlocutor and a robot.