A work in progress, this still unnamed face robot can open its eyes and smile. In the future, says its designer, Hidetoshi Akasawa, a mechanical engineering student working on a master's at the Science University of Tokyo, it will be able to recognize and react to human facial expressions. Believing that human communication is not accomplished by words alone, the laboratory has created three generations of increasingly sophisticated face robots in a program directed by engineering professors Fumio Hara (Akasawa's thesis advisor) and Hiroshi Kobayashi. This third-generation robot will greet smiles with smiles, frowns with frowns, mixing and matching six basic emotions in a real-time interaction that Hara calls "active human interface."

Purpose
What happens when robots have humanlke faces is the biggest question...as far as robot-human communication is concerned. Can robots have an "emotion" or not? Those two questions are the inspiration for our face robot.
Height
360 mm
Weight
2.1 kg
Vision
1 CCD camera
Sensors
None
Batteries
None
External Power
12 V (DC) power supplier, 300 W
KLOC
Not counted yet
Cost
$85,000
Project Status
Ongoing
Information Source
Fumio Hara