SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR GENERATING CONTEXTUAL BEHAVIORS OF A MOBILE ROBOT

• US 20120197436A1
• Filed: 07/12/2010
• Published: 08/02/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/10/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SoftBank Robotics Europe SAS
• Original Assignee: Aldebaran Robotics S.A. (SoftBank Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Maisonnier, Bruno, Monceaux, Jérôme
• Granted Patent: US 9,205,557 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/250
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 9/1656 characterised by programming, planning systems for manipulators
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/34 Graphical or visual programming
• 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 system and a method for generating behaviors of a robot capable of reproducing a script, notably according to the meaning of the script and, possibly, reactions of the environment of the robot. For this, the system is provided with a library of command tags and a module for inserting said tags into the editor of the script to be reproduced by the robot or robots. The system and method enable a user who does not have particular programming knowledge to produce complex scenarios for use of his or her robot. These scenarios can also be swapped between different users.

Claims

1. A system for editing and controlling behaviors of at least one robot comprising:

a module for editing a text to be spoken by the robot;

a sound synthesis module for synthesizing said text;

a library of command tags for behaviors to be executed by the robot; and

a module for inserting said tags into said text and a module for generating and controlling the behaviors of said robot, wherein

said command tags comprise at least one tag for controlling a behavior dependent on the content of the text; and

said command tags are semantic representations of said behaviors.

2. The editing and control system according to claim 1, wherein some of the command tags are inserted into the text between at least one opening separator and at least one closing separator which respectively trigger the start of a series of behaviors and the end of said series.

3. The editing and control system according to claim 1, further comprising a module for monitoring the environment of the robot, wherein said library of command tags comprises at least one tag for controlling a behavior dependent on the environment of the robot.

4. The editing and control system according to claim 1, wherein the library of command tags comprises at least one tag selected from the group of wait commands and commands in response to an expected external action.

5. The editing and control system according to claim 1, wherein command tags are selected from the group comprising graphic symbols, punctuation marks, and words.

6. The editing and control system according to claim 1, wherein some of the command tags are inserted into the text in the form of a list, each item in said list corresponding to a phrase member with which a group of behaviors is associated.

7. The editing and control system according to claim 1, wherein the behaviors to be executed by the robot are selected from the group comprising combinations of the modulations of the voices reading the text and gestures accompanying the text and signal emissions.

8. The editing and control system according to claim 7, wherein the modulations of the voices are selected from a group comprising combinations of different languages, voices, tones, speeds, and intonations.

9. The editing and control system according to claim 1, wherein the text editing module communicates with the module for controlling the behaviors of the robot by an electronic messaging module.

10. The editing and control system according to claim 1, wherein the system is capable of dialoging with elements belonging to a controlled group comprising physical robots, virtual robots, and computers.

11. The editing and control system according to claim 10, wherein the robots belonging to the controlled group each execute a part of the text determined by at least one command tag characteristic of each of the elements of the controlled group.

12. The editing and control system according to claim 1, a behavior controlled by a command tag may change according to a method selected from the group comprising random change, cyclic change, or contextual change.

13. A method for editing and controlling behaviors of at least one robot comprising:

editing a text to be spoken by the robot;

synthesizing sound said text;

reading from a library of command tags of behaviors to be executed by the robot, said library of command tags comprising at least one tag for controlling a behavior dependent on the content of the text;

inserting said tags into said text; and

controlling the behaviors of said robot, wherein

said command tags are semantic representations of said behaviors.

14. The method for editing and controlling behaviors according to claim 13, wherein the command tags are inserted into the text between at least one opening separator and at least one closure separator which respectively trigger the start of a series of behaviors and the end of said series.