JP2007025140A - Robot apparatus and information presenting method of robot apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a robot apparatus and an information presenting method of the robot apparatus that enable a user to vary speech output contents through an easy operation so that the speech output contents of the robot apparatus become easy to recognize even when the user has low hearing acuity or is in a noisy atmosphere. <P>SOLUTION: The robot apparatus which has a speech output section 23 outputting a speech and a character string output section 25 outputting a character string and presents information to the user with the speech or character string is equipped with a sound volume control section 24 which varies sound volume of last speech output and outputs the speech when the speech is outputted. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a robot apparatus that presents information to a user by voice or a character string, and an information presentation method for the robot apparatus.

  A general robot apparatus that presents information by outputting a voice to the user cannot hear or understand the voice output contents, so the user cannot hear the voice output contents or receive a response from the user. The same audio output is repeated again. However, there is a problem that even if the same audio output is repeated, the user cannot always hear it.

To deal with this problem, for example, Patent Document 1 discloses a voice output method for a robot apparatus that changes at least one of intonation, speed, word separation, abbreviation, and voice color when voice output is repeated.
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration of a conventional robot apparatus. In the figure, reference numeral 101 denotes a robot, which has an arm portion 102 for performing hand shaking. A camera 110, a microphone 111, a human detection sensor 112, a speaker 113, an image display 114, a touch sensor 115, and an obstacle sensor 116 are installed.
The robot 101 includes a control unit (not shown), and the control unit includes a conversation processing unit and a drive control unit. An image captured by the camera 110, outputs of the microphone 111, the touch sensor 115, the obstacle sensor 116, and the like are input to the control unit. The conversation processing unit has a function of recognizing the user's voice input from the microphone 111 and a speech function of generating a voice output content to the user and driving the speaker 113. In addition, when the touch sensor 115 is pressed or when it is determined that it is necessary to repeat the sound output to the user, the user has a function of repeating the sound output again. Further, it has a function of giving an operation instruction according to the sound output to the drive control unit. The drive control unit drives a movable unit such as the arm unit 102 in accordance with the processing of the conversation processing unit, thereby realizing a hand gesture or the like.

In the configuration described above, when the touch sensor 115 is pressed or it is determined by the conversation process that the user cannot understand the voice output content, at least one of intonation, speed, word separation, abbreviation, and voice color is selected. Change and output the sound again.
By repeating the voice output while changing the expression in this way, the user's attention is drawn to increase the understanding without giving the user stress.
JP 2004-46400 A (page 6-6, FIG. 1)

However, in conventional robotic devices, intonation, speed, word separation, abbreviations, and voice color change, but the volume does not change, so if the user has weak hearing or the surrounding noise is loud, the user can In order to recognize this, an operation such as changing the setting of the control program is necessary, and there is a problem that the operation becomes complicated.
The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and even when a user with weak hearing or surrounding noise is large, an output is made so that the user can easily recognize the audio output content of the robot apparatus with a simple operation. It is an object of the present invention to provide a robot apparatus capable of changing contents and an information presentation method for the robot apparatus.

In order to solve the above problem, the present invention is configured as follows.
The invention according to claim 1 includes a voice output unit that outputs a voice and a character string output unit that outputs a character string, and presents information to the user by voice or a character string. It is characterized by including a volume adjusting unit that outputs the sound by changing the volume with respect to the previous sound output.
Further, the invention according to claim 2 further includes an output content storage unit that stores a volume when the user recognizes at the time of voice output, and at the next voice output, the voice is stored at the volume stored in the output content storage unit. It is characterized by outputting.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, when a voice output is output a predetermined number of times or more, it is switched to a character string output and output.
The invention described in claim 4 further includes an output content transmission unit that outputs the content output by the voice output unit and the character string output unit to the outside of the robot apparatus by transmission.

The invention according to claim 5 is an information presentation method for a robot apparatus that includes a voice output unit that outputs voice and a character string output unit that outputs a character string, and presents information to the user by voice or character string. In the above, the sound output is performed by changing the volume with respect to the previous sound output.
The invention described in claim 6 is characterized in that the sound volume when the user recognizes is stored at the time of sound output, and the sound is output at the stored sound volume at the next sound output time.
The invention described in claim 7 is characterized in that, when the voice output is output a predetermined number of times or more, the output is switched to the character string output.
The invention described in claim 8 is characterized in that the contents output by the voice output unit and the character string output unit are output outside the robot apparatus by transmission.

According to the first and fifth aspects of the invention, when outputting sound, the sound volume is changed with respect to the level of the previous sound output. Even when the ambient noise is high, the user can easily recognize the audio output content.
According to the second and sixth aspects of the invention, the volume when the user recognizes is stored, and when the next sound is output, the sound is output with the stored volume. Time to do can be shortened.
According to the third and seventh aspects of the present invention, when the voice output is output a predetermined number of times or more, the output is switched to the character string output, so even if the user has weak hearing or the surrounding noise is large, It becomes easy to recognize the audio output contents.
According to the fourth and eighth aspects of the present invention, since the contents output by the voice output unit and the character string output unit are output to the outside of the robot apparatus by transmission, for example, the voice is output from a speaker worn by the user. The user can easily recognize the audio output contents even when the user has weak hearing or the surrounding noise is large.
Thus, the output content can be changed so that the audio output content can be easily recognized by a simple operation.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a robot apparatus according to the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a robot, which has an arm 2 for hand shaking. A speaker 10, a touch panel 11, a camera 12, a microphone 13, a human detection sensor 14, and an obstacle sensor 15 are installed.
The robot 1 has a built-in control unit, and performs control related to voice output.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of the control unit of the robot apparatus of the present invention. In the figure, 21 is a control unit, 22 is a conversation processing unit, and 28 is a drive control unit. The control unit 21 receives an image captured by the camera 12, an output of the microphone 13, the touch panel 11, the human detection sensor 14, the obstacle sensor 15, and the like. The conversation processing unit has a function of recognizing the user's voice input from the microphone 13 and a speech function of generating a voice output content to the user and driving the speaker 10. In addition, when it is determined that the user has not been recognized, such as when a part of the touch panel 11 indicating that it cannot be recognized is pressed or when a user gesture indicating that the camera 12 has not been recognized is detected, It has a function to repeat voice output to the user again. Further, it has a function of giving an operation instruction corresponding to the sound output to the drive control unit 28. The drive control unit 28 drives a movable unit such as the arm 2 according to the processing of the conversation processing unit 22 to realize an operation such as a hand gesture.
The conversation processing unit 22 includes a voice output unit 23 that outputs voice, a volume control unit 24 that adjusts the volume, a character string output unit 25 that outputs a character string, and an output content that stores the output content. There are a storage unit 26 and an output content transmission unit 27 for transmitting the output content.
In the case of the present embodiment, it is basically based on output from the speaker 10 of the robot main body by voice output, and when it is determined that the volume of the voice exceeds a certain level, it is switched to character string output and displayed on the touch panel 11 of the main body. It shall be. In addition, it is assumed that the user can select to output a voice or character string output to an external device by transmission through an operation from the touch panel 11. The external device includes a speaker worn by the user, a display installed outside, and the like, and an easily recognizable device may be selected depending on the environment where the robot is installed.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the voice output process of the conversation processing unit 22.
In step 1, it is determined whether the output means is a voice or a character string. In the case of audio output, the process proceeds to step S2. In the case of character string output, the process proceeds to step S4. Here, the character string is output when the user selects the character string output or when the sound output exceeds a certain volume.
In step S2, the volume control unit 23 adjusts the volume. At initial time, the volume is set to a predetermined initial value. The next time when the user recognizes the sound volume once and stores the sound volume is the stored sound volume. If the user does not recognize it, the volume is increased by a predetermined value. Next, in step S3, the sound output unit 23 outputs sound. Next, it progresses to step S5 and it is judged whether the user recognized. When it is determined that the user has not been recognized, for example, when a portion of the touch panel 11 indicating that it cannot be recognized is pressed or when a user gesture indicating that the camera 12 has not been recognized is detected, the process proceeds to step S7. move on. In step S7, it is checked whether or not the number of times that the user could not recognize is equal to or more than N times set in advance. If not N times or more, the process returns to step S2 to increase the volume. If it is N times or more, it is determined that it cannot be recognized by voice output, and the process proceeds to step S8 to switch to character string output. Then, the process proceeds to step S4.
If it is determined in step S5 that the user has recognized, the process proceeds to step S6, where the output content storage unit 26 stores the output content of the volume / character string, and the process ends. The stored volume is output at that volume in the next first conversation process. If the character string is stored, the character string is output next time.
When outputting a character string, the character string output unit 25 outputs a character string in step S4, and the process proceeds to step S5.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of the process of the audio output unit 23.
In step S11, it is determined whether an audio output is transmitted. When not transmitting, it progresses to step S12 and outputs an audio | voice to a robot main body. When transmitting, it progresses to step S13 and outputs an audio | voice output by transmission.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart of processing of the character string output unit 25.
In step S21, it is determined whether or not the character string output is transmitted. When not transmitting, it progresses to step S22 and a character string is output to a robot main body. When transmitting, it progresses to step S23 and outputs a character string output by transmission.
In the case of transmission, in the case of audio output, the audio output content is transmitted by wireless communication with a music playback device or hearing aid worn by the user, such as a headphone or a hearing aid speaker installed at a position where the user can easily hear. Can output audio.
In the case of character string output, the content to be output by voice can be transmitted as a character string and displayed on an external display or a device worn by the user.

  In this way, when outputting sound, the sound volume is changed with respect to the previous sound output level, so that the sound output sound volume is appropriate, and even if the user has weak hearing or the surrounding noise is high, It becomes easy to recognize the audio output contents. In addition, since the sound volume when the user recognizes is stored and the sound is output at the stored sound volume at the next sound output time, it is possible to shorten the time until the user recognizes the sound output content from the next time. In addition, when the voice output is output a predetermined number of times or more, since the voice output is switched to the character string output, the user can easily recognize the voice output content even when the user has weak hearing or the surrounding noise is large. Further, since the contents output by the voice output unit and the character string output unit are output to the outside of the robot apparatus by transmission, for example, a voice output can be obtained from a speaker worn by the user, and a user with weak hearing or the surroundings Even if the noise is loud, the user can easily recognize the audio output content. Thus, the output content can be changed so that the audio output content can be easily recognized by a simple operation.

  The present invention is not limited to the information presentation of the robot apparatus, but can be applied to various information presentation means and devices such as a television and a radio.

The figure which shows the structure of the robot apparatus of this invention The figure which shows the structure of the control part of the robot apparatus of this invention Flow chart of voice output processing of conversation processing unit Flow chart of processing of audio output unit Flowchart of processing of character string display part The figure which shows the structure of the conventional robot apparatus

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1,101 Robot 2 Arm 10, 113 Speaker 11 Touch panel 12, 110 Camera 13, 111 Microphone 14, 112 Human detection sensor 15 Obstacle sensor 21 Control part 22 Conversation processing part 23 Voice output part 24 Volume control part 25 Character string output part 26 Output content storage unit 27 Output content transmission unit 28 Drive control unit 102 Arm unit 114 Image display 115 Touch sensor 116 Obstacle sensor

Claims (8)

An audio output unit for outputting audio;
It has a string output part that outputs a string,
In a robot apparatus that presents information to a user by voice or character string,
A robot apparatus comprising: a volume adjusting unit that outputs a sound by changing a volume with respect to a previous sound output at the time of sound output. An output content storage unit for storing a volume when the user recognizes at the time of voice output;
The robot apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a voice is output at a volume stored in the output content storage unit at a next voice output.   2. The robot apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the voice output is output a predetermined number of times or more, the output is switched to the character string output.   The robot apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an output content transmission unit that outputs contents output by the voice output unit and the character string output unit to the outside of the robot apparatus by transmission. An audio output unit for outputting audio;
It has a string output part that outputs a string,
In the information presentation method of the robot apparatus for presenting information to the user by voice or character string,
An information presentation method for a robot apparatus, characterized in that at the time of voice output, the volume is changed with respect to the previous voice output. At the time of voice output, remember the volume when the user recognizes,
6. The information presentation method for a robotic device according to claim 5, wherein the voice is output at the stored volume at the next voice output.   6. The robot apparatus information presentation method according to claim 5, wherein when the voice output is output a predetermined number of times or more, the output is switched to the character string output.   6. The information presentation method for a robot apparatus according to claim 5, wherein contents output by the voice output unit and the character string output unit are output to the outside of the robot apparatus by transmission.

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