HUMANOID GAME-PLAYING ROBOT, METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR USING SAID ROBOT

• US 20130103196A1
• Filed: 06/27/2011
• Published: 04/25/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/02/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SoftBank Robotics Europe SAS
• Original Assignee: Aldebaran Robotics S.A. (SoftBank Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Monceaux, Jerome, Boudier, Celine
• Granted Patent: US 9,950,421 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/253
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2009/243 with other kinds of input
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2009/2433 Voice-actuated
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2009/2476 Speech or voice synthesisers, e.g. using a speech chip
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 9/183 electric
• CPC Class Codes: A63H 11/18 Figure toys which perform a realistic walking motion
• CPC Class Codes: A63H 2200/00 Computerized interactive toys, e.g. dolls
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 9/0006 Exoskeletons, i.e. resembling a human figure
• 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

The invention relates to a player humanoid robot, a method and computer programs associated therewith. The prior art does not disclose any humanoid robot able to move on its lower limbs, to perform gestures, to communicate visual and/or audible signs, to receive same and interpret them so as to deduce therefrom appropriate behaviors for participating in a game in time as compere, questioner, questioned, investigator or mobile stake for the game. The hardware architectures, internal software and software for programming the robot of the invention make it possible to carry out these functions and to create new game experiences in which the boundaries between virtual world and real world are shifted once again.

Claims

1. A humanoid robot capable of moving on its lower limbs, of performing movements of its upper limbs, of sending and receiving messages selected from a group of visual, audible, gestural and/or tactile messages and of producing at least one autonomous behavior, said at least one behavior constituting an element of a game sequence generated in response to at least one message selected from the group of visual, audible, gestural and/or tactile messages, said robot being configured to ask at least one question in the form of a message selected from the group of visual, audible, gestural and/or tactile messages and to determine whether at least one response message belonging to the same group contains a correct response, a false response or an ambiguous response.

2. The humanoid robot of claim 1, wherein said determination is performed on output from a loop of iterations determined as a function of recognition thresholds for said responses.

3. The humanoid robot of claim 1, further capable of recognizing objects in its environment and of integrating them into the sequence of said game.

4. The humanoid robot of claim 1, further being the compere of a game of questions responses wherein at least one other player participates, who must provide the responses to the questions asked by the robot.

5. The humanoid robot of claim 1, further being one of the players in a game in which at least one other player participates and in which it must recognize a person or a thing as a function at least of clues which are communicated to it by said at least one other player.

8. The humanoid robot of claim 1, wherein its movements are determined in part as a function of first displacement directives which are communicated to it by a remote control manipulated by a first player, of second displacement directives, antagonistic to the first directives, which are communicated to it visually by a second player and of third displacement directives, antagonistic to the second directives and which are communicated to it by a third player.

10. The humanoid robot of claim 1, wherein at least two robots participate in one and the same game, said at least two robots being in communication through at least one visual, audible and/or gestural message.

11. The humanoid robot of claim 1, wherein at least two robots participate in one and the same game, said at least two robots being in communication by exchange of behavior messages.

12. The humanoid robot as claimed in claim 11, wherein said exchange of behavior messages is activated after a step of reciprocal identification of said robots by exchange of information characterizing them.

13. The humanoid robot of claim 12, wherein said at least two robots are furthermore able to download a signal for synchronizing their movements.

14. The humanoid robot of claim 1, wherein at least one player robot and another player are situated in two places not linked by a local network.

15. The humanoid robot of claim 14, wherein said at least one player robot and another player communicate by wide area network communication protocol and in that said player robot is endowed with autonomous processing means for the encoding of network accesses.

16. The humanoid robot of claim 1, wherein a player is able to communicate with it by way of a visual code.

17. The humanoid robot of claim 1, further being capable of carrying out a function of assistance of at least one other player consisting in performing at least one action in the game in place of the player.

20. The humanoid robot of claim 1, further being capable of triggering and managing the interruptions and resumptions of a game sequence.

21. The humanoid robot of claim 1, further being capable of recognizing at least one player from among several, said recognition using a clue selected from a group of visual, audible, gestural and/or tactile clues.

6. (canceled)

7. (canceled)

9. (canceled)

18. (canceled)

19. (canceled)

22. A method of controlling a humanoid robot capable of moving on its lower limbs of performing movements of its upper limbs of sending and receiving messages selected from a group of visual, audible, gestural and/or tactile messages and of producing at least one autonomous behavior, said at least one behavior constituting an element of a game sequence generated in response to at least one message selected from the group of visual, audible and/or gestural messages, said method further comprising a step in which said robot asks at least one question in the form of a message selected from the group of visual, audible, gestural and/or tactile messages and determines whether at least one response message belonging to the same group contains a correct response, a false response or an ambiguous response.

23. A computer program comprising program code instructions allowing the execution of the method of claim 22 when the program is executed on a computer, said program being adapted for allowing a humanoid robot to move on its lower limbs, to perform movements of its upper limbs, to send and to receive messages selected from a group of visual, audible, gestural and/or tactile messages and to produce at least one autonomous behavior, said at least one behavior constituting an element of a game sequence generated in response to at least one message selected from the group of visual, audible and/or gestural messages, said program further comprising a module capable of generating a behavior in which said robot asks at least one question in the form of a message selected from the group of visual, audible, gestural and/or tactile messages and a module capable of determining whether at least one response message belonging to the same group contains a correct response, a false response or an ambiguous response.