ROBOT CONTROL SYSTEM, ROBOT, PROGRAM, AND INFORMATION STORAGE MEDIUM

• US 20100298976A1
• Filed: 09/01/2008
• Published: 11/25/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/06/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Olympus Corporation
• Original Assignee: Olympus Corporation
• Inventors: Shimizu, Hideki, Tatsuta, Seiji, Iba, Yoichi, Kasai, Tsuneharu, Fukushima, Nobuto, Sugihara, Ryohei
• Application Number:
  US12/676,732
• Publication Number:
  US 20100298976A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/248
• CPC Class Codes: A63H 11/20 with pairs of legs, e.g. horses
• CPC Class Codes: A63H 2200/00 Computerized interactive toys, e.g. dolls
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 3/008 based on physical entities controlled by simulated intelligence so as to replicate intelligent life forms, e.g. based on robots replicating pets or humans in their appearance or behaviour

Abstract

A robot control system includes a user information acquisition section (12) that acquires user information that is obtained based on sensor information from at least one of a behavior sensor that measures a behavior of a user, a condition sensor that measures a condition of the user, and an environment sensor that measures an environment of the user, a presentation information determination section (14) that determines presentation information that is presented to the user by the robot based on the acquired user information, and a robot control section (30) that controls the robot to present the presentation information to the user. The presentation information determination section (14) determines the presentation information that is presented to the user so that a first robot and a second robot present different types of presentation information based on the identical acquired user information.

Claims

1. A robot control system that controls a robot, the robot control system comprising:

a user information acquisition section that acquires user information that is obtained based on sensor information from at least one of a behavior sensor that measures a behavior of a user, a condition sensor that measures a condition of the user, and an environment sensor that measures an environment of the user;

a presentation information determination section that determines presentation information that is presented to the user by the robot based on the acquired user information; and

a robot control section that controls the robot to present the presentation information to the user,

the presentation information determination section determining the presentation information that is presented to the user so that a first robot and a second robot present different types of presentation information based on the identical acquired user information.

2. The robot control system as defined in claim 1,

the first robot being set as a master, and the second robot being set as a slave;

and

the presentation information determination section that is provided in the master-side first robot instructing the slave-side second robot to present the presentation information to the user.

3. The robot control system as defined in claim 2, further comprising:

a communication section that transmits instruction information from the master-side first robot to the slave-side second robot, the instruction information instructing presentation of the presentation information.

4. The robot control system as defined in claim 1,

the user information acquisition section acquiring user historical information as the user information, the user historical information being at least one of a behavior history, a condition history, and an environment history of the user;

and

the presentation information determination section determining the presentation information that is presented to the user by the robot based on the acquired user historical information.

5. The robot control system as defined in claim 4, further comprising:

an event determination section that determines occurrence of an available event that indicates that the robot is available,

the presentation information determination section determining the presentation information presented to the user by the robot based on first user historical information acquired in a first period before the available event occurs and second user historical information acquired in a second period after the available event has occurred.

6. The robot control system as defined in claim 5,

the presentation information determination section changing weighting of the first user historical information and weighting of the second user historical information when determining the presentation information in the second period.

7. The robot control system as defined in claim 6,

the presentation information determination section increasing the weighting of the first user historical information while decreasing the weighting of the second user historical information when determining the presentation information when the available event has occurred, and then decreasing the weighting of the first user historical information while increasing the weighting of the second user historical information.

8. The robot control system as defined in claim 4,

the user historical information being information that is updated based on sensor information from a wearable sensor of the user.

9. The robot control system as defined in claim 1,

the presentation information determination section determining the presentation information that is subsequently presented to the user by the robot based on a reaction of the user to the presentation information that has been presented by the robot.

10. The robot control system as defined in claim 9, further comprising:

a user characteristic information storage section that stores user characteristic information; and

a user characteristic information update section that updates the user characteristic information based on the reaction of the user to the presentation information presented by the robot.

11. The robot control system as defined in claim 9, further comprising:

a contact state determination section that determines a contact state on a sensing surface of the robot,

the presentation information determination section determining whether the user has stroked or hit the robot as the reaction of the user to the presentation information presented by the robot based on the determination result of the contact state determination section, and determining the presentation information that is subsequently presented to the user.

12. The robot control system as defined in claim 11,

the contact state determination section determining the contact state on the sensing surface based on output data obtained by performing a calculation process on an output signal from a microphone provided under the sensing surface.

13. The robot control system as defined in claim 12,

the output data being a signal strength;

and

the contact state determination section comparing the signal strength with a given threshold value to determine whether the user has stroked or hit the robot.

14. The robot control system as defined in claim 1, further comprising:

a scenario data storage section that stores scenario data that includes a plurality of phrases as the presentation information,

the presentation information determination section determining a phrase spoken to the user by the robot based on the scenario data; and

the robot control section causing the robot to speak the determined phrase.

15. The robot control system as defined in claim 14,

the scenario data storage section storing the scenario data in which a plurality of phrases are linked by a branched structure;

and

the presentation information determination section determining a phrase that is subsequently spoken by the robot based on a reaction of the user to the phrase that has been spoken by the robot.

16. The robot control system as defined in claim 15,

the presentation information determination section selecting second scenario data that is different from first scenario data when the user has made a given reaction to a phrase that has been spoken by the robot based on the first scenario data, and determining the phrase that is subsequently spoken by the robot based on the second scenario data.

17. The robot control system as defined in claim 14, further comprising:

a speak right control section that determines whether to give a next phrase speak right to the first robot or the second robot based on a reaction of the user to the phrase spoken by the robot.

18. The robot control system as defined in claim 17,

the speak right control section determining a robot to which the next phrase speak right is given, based on whether the user has made a positive reaction or a negative reaction to a phrase spoken by the first robot or the second robot.

19. The robot control system as defined in claim 14, further comprising:

a scenario data acquisition section that acquires scenario data selected from a plurality of pieces of scenario data based on the user information.

20. The robot control system as defined in claim 19,

the scenario data acquisition section downloading the scenario data selected based on the user information through a network;

and

the presentation information determination section determining a phrase spoken to the user by the robot based on the scenario data downloaded through the network.

21. The robot control system as defined in claim 19,

the scenario data acquisition section acquiring scenario data selected based on at least one of current date information, current place information about the user, current behavior information about the user, and current occasion information about the user;

and

the presentation information determination section determining the phrase spoken to the user by the robot based on the scenario data selected based on at least one of the current date information, the current place information about the user, the current behavior information about the user, and the current occasion information about the user.

22. The robot control system as defined in claim 19,

the scenario data acquisition section acquiring scenario data selected based on at least one of behavior historical information about the user and condition historical information about the user;

and

the presentation information determination section determining the phrase spoken by the robot based on the scenario data selected based on at least one of the behavior historical information about the user and the condition historical information about the user.

23. The robot control system as defined in claim 19, further comprising:

a user characteristic information storage section that stores user characteristic information; and

a user characteristic information update section that updates the user characteristic information based on a reaction of the user to the phrase spoken by the robot,

the scenario data acquisition section acquiring scenario data selected based on the user characteristic information.

24. A robot comprising:

the robot control system as defined in claim 1; and

a robot motion mechanism that is a control target of the robot control system.

25. A robot control program, the program causing a computer to function as:

a user information acquisition section that acquires user information that is obtained based on sensor information from at least one of a behavior sensor that measures a behavior of a user, a condition sensor that measures a condition of the user, and an environment sensor that measures an environment of the user;

a presentation information determination section that determines presentation information that is presented to the user by the robot based on the acquired user information; and

a robot control section that controls the robot to present the presentation information to the user,

the presentation information determination section determining the presentation information that is presented to the user so that a first robot and a second robot present different types of presentation information based on the identical acquired user information.

26. A computer-readable information storage medium storing the program as defined in claim 25.