TY - JOUR
T1 - Development of a Humorous Humanoid Robot Capable of Quick-and-Wide Arm Motion
AU - Kishi, T.
AU - Shimomura, S.
AU - Futaki, H.
AU - Yanagino, H.
AU - Yahara, M.
AU - Cosentino, S.
AU - Nozawa, T.
AU - Hashimoto, K.
AU - Takanishi, A.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported in part by the Research Institute for Science and Engineering, Waseda University; in part by the Future Robotics Organization, Waseda University, and in part by the humanoid project at the Humanoid Robotics Institute, Waseda University, in part by the JSPS KAKENHI (Grant 25220005 and Grant 26540137); JSPS Grant-in-Aid for JSPS Fellows (Grant 25.915); in part by the Mitsubishi Foundation; SolidWorks Japan K.K.; and in part by the DYDEN Corporation.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 IEEE.
PY - 2016/7
Y1 - 2016/7
N2 - This letter describes the development of a humanoid arm with quick-and-wide motion capability for making humans laugh. Laughter is attracting research attention because it enhances health by treating or preventing mental diseases. However, laughter has not been used effectively in healthcare because the mechanism of laughter is complicated and is yet to be fully understood. The development of a robot capable of making humans laugh will clarify the mechanism how humans experience humor from stimuli. Nonverbal funny expressions have the potential to make humans laugh across cultural and linguistic differences. In particular, we focused on the exaggerated arm motion widely used in slapsticks and silent comedy films. In order to develop a humanoid robot that can perform this type of movement, the required specification was calculated from slapstick skits performed by human comedians. To meet the required specifications, new arms for the humanoid robot were developed with a novel mechanism that includes lightweight joints driven by a flexible shaft and joints with high output power driven by a twin-motor mechanism. The results of experimental evaluation show that the quick-and-wide motion performed by the developed hardware is effective at making humans laugh.
AB - This letter describes the development of a humanoid arm with quick-and-wide motion capability for making humans laugh. Laughter is attracting research attention because it enhances health by treating or preventing mental diseases. However, laughter has not been used effectively in healthcare because the mechanism of laughter is complicated and is yet to be fully understood. The development of a robot capable of making humans laugh will clarify the mechanism how humans experience humor from stimuli. Nonverbal funny expressions have the potential to make humans laugh across cultural and linguistic differences. In particular, we focused on the exaggerated arm motion widely used in slapsticks and silent comedy films. In order to develop a humanoid robot that can perform this type of movement, the required specification was calculated from slapstick skits performed by human comedians. To meet the required specifications, new arms for the humanoid robot were developed with a novel mechanism that includes lightweight joints driven by a flexible shaft and joints with high output power driven by a twin-motor mechanism. The results of experimental evaluation show that the quick-and-wide motion performed by the developed hardware is effective at making humans laugh.
KW - Human-robot interaction
KW - Humanoid robots
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U2 - 10.1109/LRA.2016.2530871
DO - 10.1109/LRA.2016.2530871
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85063310686
SN - 2377-3766
VL - 1
SP - 1081
EP - 1088
JO - IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters
JF - IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters
IS - 2
M1 - 7409982
ER -
