On the symmetric molecular conjectures

A molecular linkage consists of a set of rigid bodies pairwise connected by revolute hinges where all hinge lines of each body are concurrent. It is an important problem in biochemistry, as well as in robotics, to efficiently analyze the motions of such linkages. The theory of generic rigidity of body-bar frameworks addresses this problem via fast combinatorial algorithms. However, recent work has shown that symmetry (a common feature of many molecular and mechanical structures) can lead to additional motions. These motions typically maintain the original symmetry of the structure throughout the path, and they can often be detected via simple combinatorial counts. In this paper, we outline how these symmetry-based mathematical counts and methods can be used to efficiently predict the motions of symmetric molecular linkages, and we numerically analyze configuration spaces supporting the symmetric Molecular Conjectures formulated herein

Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Emotion Expressive Humanoid Robotic Head: Recognition of Facial Expressions and Symbols

This article is closed access.Emotion display through facial expressions is an important channel of communication. However, between humans there are differences in the way a meaning to facial cues is assigned, depending on the background culture. This leads to a gap in recognition rates of expressions: this problem is present when displaying a robotic face too, as a robot’s facial expression recognition is often hampered by a cultural divide, and poor scores of recognition rate may lead to poor acceptance and interaction. It would be desirable if robots could switch their output facial configuration flexibly, adapting to different cultural backgrounds. To achieve this, we made a generation system that produces facial expressions and applied it to the 24 degrees of freedom head of the humanoid social robot KOBIAN-R, and thanks to the work of illustrators and cartoonists, the system can generate two versions of the same expression, in order to be easily recognisable by both Japanese and Western subjects. As a tool for making recognition easier, the display of Japanese comic symbols on the robotic face has also been introduced and evaluated. In this work, we conducted a cross-cultural study aimed at assessing this gap in recognition and finding solutions for it. The investigation was extended to Egyptian subjects too, as a sample of another different culture. Results confirmed the differences in recognition rates, the effectiveness of customising expressions, and the usefulness of symbols display, thereby suggesting that this approach might be valuable for robots that in the future will interact in a multi-cultural environment