How Recognition of Human Facial Expression can be incoporated in Robot Control

An amusement robot which can recognize and respond to human facial expressions is proposed. Human facial recognition being integrated into the control systems of robots is necessary in order to improve their entertainment value. Generally, the entertainment value and the success of the events which use such robots are evaluated by the number of attendees, the return rate of customers, the result of questionnaires, and so on. However, it takes a long time to gather and evaluate the data to improve such robots and events. We are proposing a new technology which uses a camera to read and respond to human facial expressions. This new technology can be used together with the traditional methods to provide better design technology for the entertainment industries. As the preliminary research, a portable bubble ejection robot was fabricated. The robot produces soap bubbles like a fountain. The ejected soap bubbles are illuminated by LEDs. The direction of the ejection nozzle and the amount of the ejected bubbles are controlled by using an Android tablet. The human facial expressions are read by a facial expression detection system. This paper will explain the design of the bubble ejection robot and the control system which reads human facial expressions, and the experimental results of human reaction to the bubble ejection. The experimental results revealed the relationship between the soap bubble ejection and the human emotions.