Autonomous Emotional Expression Generation of a Robotic Face

Abstract

This paper presents a novel design of autonomous robotic facial expression generation using a fuzzy-neuro network. The emotional characteristics of a robot can be specified in this design by assigning weights in the fuzzy-neuro network. The robotic face generates appropriate expressions in responding to the image recognition results of a user's emotional state and the assigned robotic emotional characteristics. In this study, two contrast emotional characteristics, optimistic and pessimistic, have been designed and tested to verify their responses to the recognized user emotional states (neutral, happiness, sadness and anger). Computer simulations of a robotic face show that the proposed facial expression generation system effectively responds to a user's emotional states in a human-like manner by fusing outputs of four facial expressions (boring, happiness, sadness and surprise).