Anthropomorphic Robot Head 'Flobi'

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The anthropomorphic robot head 'Flobi' has been developed at Bielefeld University and combines state-ofthe- art sensing with an exterior that elicits a sympathetic emotional response. It can display primary and secondary emotions in a human-like way, to enable intuitive humanrobot- interaction. To facilitate further research on facial appearance, the exterior is fully modular and replaceable. We demonstrate the fast responsiveness and expressiveness of the robot head by a live demonstration where the robot mirrors the head movements of an interacting person using an intertial tracking sensor.

Application:
Potential areas of application are in the communication of Human-Machine- Interfaces, where social and emotional aspects play a role. This is especially the case for motivation and learning scenarios, where non-verbal feedback can be given through facial expressions or attentional cues need to be communicated.

Integration to Research:
The robot head Flobi is used and further developed as a research platform in several interdisciplinary research projects. The collaborative research center 'Alignment in Communication' (CRC 673, C1 & C2) explores social and emotional aspects of human-robot communication, the project SoziRob (funded by DLR/BMWi) examines Flobi as a social interaction partner and training assistant for fitness sports. Further research is conducted at the excellence center CITEC in terms of appearance and ascription of personal properties, as well as technological aspects.

Contact Persons:
Dr. Britta Wrede:
Applied Informatics:aiweb.techfak.uni-bielefeld.de/
SFB 673 (C2): www.sfb673.org/projects/C2
bwrede@techfak.uni-bielefeld.de

Prof. Dr. Franz Kummert:
Applied Informatics: aiweb.techfak.uni-bielefeld.de/
SoziRob-Projekt: aiweb.techfak.uni-bielefeld.de/projekt-sozirob
franz@techfak.uni-bielefeld.de

PD Dr.-Ing. Sven Wachsmuth:
CITEC Central-Lab Facilities: www.cit-ec.de/clf/overview
SFB 673 (C1): www.sfb673.org/projects/C1
swachsmu@cit-ec.uni-bielefeld.de