Designing a sociable humanoid robot for interdisciplinary research

Abstract

This paper presents the humanoid robot BARTHOC and the smaller, but system-equal twin, BARTHOC Junior. Both robots have been developed to study human-robot interaction. The main focus of BARTHOC's design was to realize the expression and behavior of the robot to be as human-like as possible. This allows us to apply the platform to manifold research and demonstration areas. With its human-like look and mimic possibilities it differs from other platforms like ASIMO or QRIO and enables experiments even close to Mori's 'uncanny valley'. The paper describes details of the mechanical and electrical design of BARTHOC together with its PC control interface and an overview of the interaction architecture. Its humanoid appearance allows limited imitation of human behavior. The basic interaction software running on BARTHOC has been completely ported from a mobile robot except for some functionalities that could not be used due to hardware differences such as the lack of mobility. Based on these components, the robot's human-like appearance will enable us to study embodied interaction and to explore theories of human intelligence.

HBS-1: A Modular Child-Size 3D Printed Humanoid

“…Other researchers proposed a design based on facial features in skeletal form. Two robots, BARTHOC and BARTHOC junior, were offered as a platform for multidisciplinary research in mechanical design [65]. More recently, the design of the facial expression for humanoids was proposed based on active drive points on the face of the robotic head [66].…”

Emotion-based Architecture for Social Interactive Robots

“…the recognition of a special word. One of these systems is the humanoid robot Barthoc (Hackel et al, 2006). This robot has a huge number of degrees of freedom; therefore it is able to use gestures, facial expressions, body posture, and speech to interact with humans.…”

Domestic applications for social robots: an online survey on the influence of appearance and capabilities

“…Therefore, human-likeness is a special challenge to reach for some researchers (e.g. [34], [35]). Furthermore, the development of robots that closely resemble human beings can contribute to research on cognition [36].…”

“…It has to welcome people, to give general information, and to show the way to certain locations the visitor wants to got to by pointing and spoken instructions [42]. In [35] Hackel et al describe BARTHOC in depth.…”