The huggable robot Probo, a multi-disciplinary research platform

Abstract

The concept of the huggable robot Probo is a result of the desire to improve the living conditions of children in hospital environment. These children need distraction and lots of information. In this paper we present the concept of this new robot. The robot will be employed in hospitals, as a tele-interface for entertainment, communication and medical assistance. To communicate according to social rules, the robot needs the ability to show facial expressions. Using a well defined set of Action Units (AU) it's possible to express some basic emotions. A prototype of the robot's head, capable of showing these basic emotions is presented. In order to express emotions, an emotional interface is developed. The emotions, represented as a vector in an 2D emotion space, are mapped to the DOF used in the robot. A graphical user interface to control the virtual and real prototype is also presented