A group of Italian researchers from the University of Pisa believe that they can solve this problem with a truly expressive robot. To this end, the scientists created a facially expressive robot called FACE (Facial Automation for Conveying Emotions) that can mimic facial expressions for anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise.
In addition to expressing six-basic emotions, HEFES can actually make facial expressions that lie between one or more basic emotions. To create the expressions the robot utilizes a Facial Action Coding System, which categorizes facial expressions in terms of anatomical muscle movements.
While FACE looks like an impressive step towards more expressive robots, it’s still clearly a robot. The robot changed facial expressions too smoothly and too slowly to match the organic movement of a person’s face. Another problem is that I’ve never seen a human hold a single expression as still and perfectly as FACE does.
Are you convinced? Leave a comment.
[The FACE Team via New Scientist via Popular Science]
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