Robot Motion Script Synchronization with Dialogue Syntax
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Solution Overview
Problem
Social robots lack the ability to effectively synchronize their motion with human interactions, which limits their ability to build rapport and provide effective companionship or assistance in social contexts, such as with elderly individuals or autistic children.
Innovation Solution
A method that involves generating a robot motion script synchronized with robot dialogue, using a keyword-to-motion map, parsing the dialogue for syntax, and adapting motion based on context and physical cadence, allowing the robot to perform gestures and movements that mirror human interaction, including mirroring human body language and adapting to feedback.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If robots perform pre-programmed motions in social interactions, then the robot can maintain consistent behavior, but the interaction lacks naturalness and adaptability to context
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-defines a mapping between keywords and robot motions before interaction occurs. When dialogue is generated, the system performs preliminary matching of keywords to motions, allowing rapid adaptation without complex real-time decision-making. This resolves the contradiction by preparing adaptation rules in advance while maintaining runtime flexibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The robot autonomously generates its own motion scripts by parsing its own dialogue and matching keywords to pre-defined motions. The system serves itself by automatically synchronizing speech with appropriate gestures without requiring external programming for each interaction scenario, enabling contextual adaptability while keeping the system relatively simple.
2Ease of operation
If robots synchronize motion with dialogue in real-time, then the interaction becomes more natural and engaging, but the processing time and computational load increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary work by pre-defining keyword-to-motion mappings and preparing dialogue templates with embedded keywords. During real-time interaction, the system only needs to match spoken words against the pre-defined map and insert corresponding motion commands, dramatically reducing processing time while maintaining natural synchronization.
Solution Approach 2:
The dialogue and motion script are segmented into discrete keyword-unit elements. Each keyword corresponds to a specific motion segment, allowing the system to process and synchronize motions in small, manageable units rather than generating entire motion sequences at once, reducing computational burden and latency.
3Measurement precision
If robots use complex syntax analysis to generate appropriate motions, then the motion selection becomes more accurate, but the system complexity and processing requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts only the essential keyword elements from dialogue that are most relevant to motion selection, rather than performing complete syntactic analysis. By taking out and focusing on keyword matching, the system achieves sufficient motion selection accuracy without the computational overhead of full syntax parsing, reducing system complexity while maintaining precision.
Data Source
AI summary
A method of synchronizing robot motion with a social interaction. The method comprises storing in the robot a map that associates keywords with at least one robot motion, composing by the robot a dialogue based on a context of a social interaction with a human being, searching the dialogue for keywords, parsing the dialogue to determine its syntax, and analyzing the syntax. The method further comprises generating, by the robot, a robot motion script synchronized with the dialogue based on mapping one or more keywords located in the dialogue to robot motions, based on the syntax of the dialogue, and based on a physical cadence, wherein the robot motion script comprises a sequence of separate robot motions. The method further comprises playing aloud the dialogue by the robot and performing the robot motion script by the robot in synchronization with the playing aloud of the dialogue.