Cambridge University created a robot mimic named Charles. Charles still has a lot to learn but he is really good at reproducing people’s facial expressions. Charles mimics a subject next to him: Charles on the right, subject on the left. (Image via Cambridge University)
In a quest to verify how applying human behaviors to robots improve their interactions with people, Cambridge University’s department of technology created the robot known as Charles. The secret of Charles’ prowess lies in a network of servomechanisms connected via a set computer software; all connected to a camera meant to read the expressions on the face of the subject. After the camera recorded all the information on the test subject’s face, the data is sent to a computer which decodes key points in the facial expression such as the position of the eyebrows or jaws or shape of the mouth. Then, the results are sent to Charles who is able to duplicate them using mechanical systems designed for that purpose. Seemingly a time-consuming process, the entire mechanism doesn’t take more than 3 seconds.
As a computer scientist interested in neuroscience, Pr. Peter Robinson recognizes that Charles as the result of experiments with emotionally smart interfaces. He explains that the goal of such experiments was to check if robots could learn to read human body languages, tones of voice, and gestures in a social setting. In addition to that, the research team was curious about a robot’s ability to make the behaviors it learns its own. Furthermore, could humans understand the robots’ body language and comfortably interact with them.
Unfortunately, Charles did not receive the feedback hoped for. No matter how hard he tries, the mechanical systems inside Charles can’t rival those formed inside a human body with the bones, joints and muscles. Pr. Robinson confessed that the servomechanisms and software forming Charles are not sophisticated enough to make his behaviors as fluid as those of a normal person. However, Robinson is proud of the fine work done with Charles’ skin and hair. Humans who were exposed to Charles could not help but find him a bit odd, possibly creepy.
Luckily, it does not mean the research failed. The feedback researchers received about Charles revealed that humans are very good at identifying proper or natural body language and facial expressions. It is probably how people can tell when their peers are in trouble or something is not right. To add to that, Charles remains interesting to the public everywhere it makes an appearance. There seems to be something fascinating about robots for humans, and the fascination could also be hiding fear. Some people expressed their fear that robots might take over the world, and to that Pr. Robinson insists that there cannot be anything to fear given that robots can be unplugged anytime. Charles’ birth also brought out the questions of why humans tend to imagine the worse coming from robots; and why every time scientists need a shape for a robot, they mold it into a human shape.
Nonetheless, scientists should be happy that robots are teaching so much about our kind.
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