Development of an anthropomorphic head-eye system for robot and human communication

On Humanoid Project, Waseda University, we are developing a 'campus information assistant Hadaly', which provides campus information services. This paper describes the anthropomorphic head-eye system which has an eye and head mechanism that comprises a subsystem of the campus information assistant Hadaly. The head-eye system consists of an eyeball mechanism and a head. Since the camera drive mechanism needs light-weight and immune to backlashes, the eyeball part uses a tendon-driven gimbal mechanism. In an experiment to look at the target on the side, placed in the visual field of the CCD camera. Also, in an experiment to pursue a moving target, within the visual field of the CCD camera. After performing the above experiments with the head-eye system, we have confirmed that coordinated motions of the eye and head are possible the velocities equivalent to those of human and also using motions similar to those of human.