"HUMANOID ROBOT EQUIPPED WITH A NATURAL DIALOGUE INTERFACE, METHOD FOR CONTROLLING THE ROBOT AND CORRESPONDING PROGRAM"

• US 20130218339A1
• Filed: 07/11/2011
• Published: 08/22/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/23/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SoftBank Robotics Europe SAS
• Original Assignee: Aldebaran Robotics S.A. (SoftBank Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Maisonnier, Bruno, Monceaux, Jerome
• Granted Patent: US 8,942,849 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/257
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 11/0005 Manipulators having means for high-level communication with users, e.g. speech generator, face recognition means
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 13/003 by means of an audio-responsive input audible safety signals B25J19/061
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/00 Systems controlled by a computer G05B13/00, G05B19/00 take precedence; automatic controllers with particular characteristics G05B11/00
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/22 Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue

Abstract

A humanoid robot equipped with an interface for natural dialog with an interlocutor is provided. Previously, the modalities of dialog between humanoid robots equipped moreover with evolved displacement functionalities and human beings are limited notably by the capabilities for voice and visual recognition processing that can be embedded onboard said robots. The present disclosure provides robots are presently equipped with capabilities to resolve doubt on a several modalities of communication of the messages that they receive and for combining these various modalities which make it possible to greatly improve the quality and the natural character of dialogs with the robots'"'"' interlocutors. This affords simple and user-friendly means for carrying out the programming of the functions making it possible to ensure the fluidity of these multimodal dialogs.

Claims

1. A humanoid robot comprising at least two channels for natural communication of messages with at least one interlocutor according to different modalities, said at least two channels each being chosen from a group of channels comprising receive, send channels, and a control module (for the inputs/outputs of said channels, wherein said control module is configured to improve the understanding of the messages received by said robot based on execution of at least one function chosen from a group of functions comprising a function of combining messages received/sent on a first channel and on a second channel, and a function of sending a second message generated based on a first message received on a channel.

2. The humanoid robot of claim 1, wherein said communication channels are chosen from a group of communication channels for sending and/or receiving audible, visual, tactile, gestural, positional or symbolic messages.

3. The humanoid robot of claim 2, wherein a first communication channel is a sound send channel and a second communication channel is a channel for receiving gestures and/or positions from at least one part of the robot by said at least one interlocutor, said gestures and/or positions being representative of inputs communicated by the interlocutor to the robot, the specifications of said inputs being defined by the robot to the interlocutor by the message sent on the first channel.

4. The humanoid robot of claim 3, further comprising a third tactile communication channel by which the interlocutor validates the inputs into the second channel.

5. The humanoid robot of claim 2, wherein a first communication channel is a channel for receiving sound messages and a second communication channel is a channel for sending sound messages and in that said control module is able to evaluate the confidence level of the understanding by said robot of a first message received on said first channel and to generate at least one second message on said second channel whose content depends on said confidence level.

6. The humanoid robot of claim 5, wherein the first channel comprises a filter for voice recognition of the messages received by a list of expressions with each of which is associated an expected recognition rate and in that the content of said second message is chosen by a heuristic from a group of requests comprising a request for repetition of said first message on the first channel, a request for confirmation by a third message to be sent by the interlocutor on the first channel of a subset of the expressions of the filter, and a request for sending by the interlocutor of at least another message on at least a third channel.

7. The humanoid robot of claim 6, further being configured for sending on the second channel a signal of start of listening on the first channel so as to ensure the sequencing in half-duplex mode of the messages on the first and the second channel.

8. The humanoid robot of claim 6, wherein said choice heuristic is a function of the position of the real recognition rates with respect to thresholds determined on the basis of the expected recognition rates.

9. The humanoid robot of claim 6, wherein said third channel is a channel for tactile reception or for receiving gestures from a part of the robot.

10. The humanoid robot of claim 5, further comprising a module for interfacing with an electronic mail system, said interfacing module allowing a holder of an account on said electronic system to use said robot as agent for receiving/reading the electronic messages on the second channel, for writing/sending on the first channel and for administering said account by dialog, using said first and second channels.

11. The humanoid robot of claim 6, wherein said third channel is a channel for visual reception of images of objects corresponding to the list of expressions of the filter of the first channel, said images being compared with a database of images of said objects previously recorded with said expressions and which is accessible by said control module for the inputs/outputs of said communication channels.

12. The humanoid robot of claim 2, wherein a first communication channel is a channel for receiving visual messages and a second communication channel is a channel for sending sound messages and in that said control module is able to evaluate the confidence level of the understanding by said robot of a first message received on said first channel and to generate at least one second message on said second channel whose content depends on said confidence level.

13. The humanoid robot of claim 12, wherein the first channel comprises a filter for recognizing images of the messages received by a list of expressions with each of which is associated an expected recognition rate and in that the content of said second message is chosen by a heuristic from a group of requests comprising a request for repetition of said first message on the first channel, a request for confirmation by a third message to be sent by the interlocutor on a third channel for receiving sound messages of a subset of the expressions of the filter, and a request for sending by the interlocutor of at least another message on at least a fourth channel.

14. The humanoid robot of claim 1, wherein at least one of the channels is a hybrid channel receiving as inputs the outputs of two channels, merged by said control module for the inputs and outputs.

15. A method of control of the communications of a humanoid robot with at least one interlocutor comprising at least two steps of message transmission by communication channels using different modalities, said two steps each being chosen from a group of channels comprising receive, send channels, and a step of controlling of the inputs/outputs of said channels, wherein said controlling step is configured to improve the understanding of the messages received by said robot based on execution of at least one function chosen from a group of functions comprising a function of combining messages received/sent on a first channel and on a second channel, and a function of sending of a second message generated based on a first message received on a channel.

16. A computer program comprising program code instructions allowing the execution of the method as claimed in claim 15 when the program is executed on a computer, said program being configured to allow a humanoid robot comprising at least two channels for natural communication of messages with at least one interlocutor according to different modalities, said at least two channels each being chosen from a group of channels comprising receive, send channels, and a subroutine for control of the inputs/outputs of said channels, wherein said control subroutine is configured to improve the understanding of the messages received by said robot based on execution at least one function chosen from a group of functions comprising a function of combining messages received/sent on a first channel and on a second channel, and a function of sending a second message generated based on a first message received on a channel.

17. A method of editing and controlling a communication interface between at least one humanoid robot and at least one interlocutor, said at least one humanoid robot comprising at least two channels for natural communication of messages with the at least one interlocutor according to different modalities, said at least two channels each being chosen from a group of channels comprising receive, send channels, and a control module for the inputs/outputs of said channels, said control module being configured to improve the understanding of the messages received by said robot based on execution of at least one function chosen from a group of functions comprising a function of combining messages received/sent on a first channel and on a second channel, and a function of sending a second message generated based of a first message received on a channel, further comprising a step of programming said chosen function.

18. The method of editing and controlling of claim 17, wherein said step of programming said chosen function comprises at least one sub-step of defining a first communication channel in the guise of sound send channel and a second communication channel in the guise of channel for receiving at least one gesture impressed on a limb of the robot by said at least one interlocutor, a sub-step of defining a correspondence between said at least one gesture and an input communicated by the interlocutor to the robot, and a sub-step of defining the specifications of said inputs by generating at least one message to be sent by the robot to the interlocutor on the first channel.

19. The method of editing and controlling of claim 18, further comprising a sub-step of defining a third tactile communication channel whereby the interlocutor validates the inputs performed on the second channel.

21. The method of editing and controlling of claim 17, wherein said step of programming said chosen function comprises at least one sub-step of defining a first communication channel in the guise of channel for receiving sound messages and a second communication channel in the guise of channel for sending sound messages, a sub-step of defining a function for evaluating a confidence level of the understanding by said robot of a first message received on said first channel and a sub-step of defining the generation of at least one second message on said second channel whose content depends on said confidence level.

24. A computer program comprising program code instructions for execution of the method of claim 17 when the program is executed on a computer, said program being configured to allow a user to program a humanoid robot comprising at least two channels for natural communication of messages with at least one interlocutor according to different modalities, said at least two channels each being chosen from a group of channels comprising receive, send channels, and a subroutine for controlling the inputs/outputs of said channels, wherein a module for programming in the subroutine for control of at least one function to be executed by the robot and chosen from the group of functions comprising a function of combining messages received/sent on a first channel and on a second channel, and a function of sending of a second message generated based on a first message received on a channel.

25. The computer program of claim 24, further comprising a module for programming the passing of at least one parameter to a control Box.

20. (canceled)

22. (canceled)

23. (canceled)

26. (canceled)

27. (canceled)