JP2002160184A - Pet robot device and recording medium for pet robot device programming - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make understandable content for image information as that a man understands for natural communication with the man when the image information is given to a pet robot device as an input to get an output. SOLUTION: This pet robot device 10 comprises a camera 11 adapted to input images such as an analogue image 12 with a digital watermark, digital watermark detecting part 13 adapted to detect information regulating a motion of the pet robot device embedded as the digital watermark from the image taken in by the camera 11, and a command executing part 17 adapted to execute a command move corresponding to the detected information as command information for controlling a drive mechanism 18 and a sound mechanism 19.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a pet type robot used as a toy or the like, and more particularly to a human interface technology for a pet robot device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, various pet-type robots imitating dogs, cats, birds, and the like have been widely marketed and provided as toys and the like. This type of pet-type robot is called a pet robot device. Many pet robot devices are equipped with a drive mechanism using an electric motor, a sound output mechanism using speakers, and an input mechanism using various sensors. Make various outputs. The relationship between the input and the output is the relationship between the human and the robot. When a pet robot device is used as a toy or the like, this input / output relationship is very important.

Sensors used in pet robots include an auditory sensor using a microphone, a contact sensor (whether or not touched) using a piezoelectric sensor, a distance sensor using an infrared radar, and a visual sensor using a camera. When an auditory sensor or the like is used, a pet robot device interprets a human utterance by, for example, a voice recognition technique, and performs an operation based on the interpretation. However, in order to obtain an appropriate output according to the input to the visual sensor, it is necessary to correctly recognize the content of the image received by the camera. Even if it can be understood, it is difficult to understand the meaning of the image, such as whether the image is a fruit "apple".

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a pet robot device with, for example, image information as an input and obtain an output, and obtain the same image information and the like as those understood by humans. An object of the present invention is to provide a pet robot device that can understand and make communication with humans more natural.

[0005]

A pet robot device according to the present invention is a pet robot device which performs some operation in response to the presentation of information from a user, and comprises input means for inputting the presented information, and input means for inputting the presented information. Digital watermark detection means for detecting information defining the operation of the pet robot device embedded as a digital watermark from the information thus obtained, and command execution means for executing a command operation based on the detected information.

In the present invention, the information to be presented is typically an analog image, and the pet robot device is provided with a camera as input means for inputting the analog image. When the information is an analog image, information representing the operation of the pet robot device when viewing the image and the contents of the image is embedded in the analog image in advance as watermark information by a digital watermarking technique. As a result, since the digital watermark itself is not perceived by human eyes, a human cannot recognize that such information is embedded in the image, but the pet robot device performs the digital watermark detection by performing the digital watermark detection. It can read the stored information and perform an operation corresponding to it. As a result, the pet robot device acquires the meaning of the image presented to the pet robot device by a human, and can perform an operation according to the meaning. In addition, since humans cannot perceive other information, they feel that "the pet has understood the contents of the image". The meaning of "information that is easily understood by humans but difficult for robots to understand" is conveyed by a digital watermark that is "information that is not understood by humans but can be understood by robots". This makes it possible to make the communication between the human and the pet robot device more natural.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[First Embodiment] FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an outline of a pet robot apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. This pet robot device 10 imitates the form of a pet animal such as a dog or a cat (a dog in the illustrated example), but may be a form that imitates an animal that does not exist. The pet robot device 10 is provided with a camera 11 as input means. The camera 11
The pet robot device 10 is provided inside the eyes of the face portion. The camera 11 is a pet robot device 10
To the image (especially the analog image 1
Used to enter 2).

Further, although not shown in FIG. 1, this pet robot device 10 has an auditory sensor (such as a microphone), a contact sensor (such as a piezoelectric sensor), a limb, A drive mechanism (motor or the like) for driving the neck and a sound generation mechanism such as a speaker for emitting sound are provided. In addition, as described later, the drive mechanism is driven in response to inputs from the camera 11 and sensors. Or a control unit for driving a sound or outputting a voice from a sound generating mechanism by a voice synthesis technique.

FIG. 2 illustrates an image input to the pet robot device 10. The camera 11 has a function as a normal visual sensor, and is used to capture an analog image 12 with a digital watermark and capture it as image data. Here, the digital watermarked analog image 12
Is an image obtained by embedding another information (hereinafter also referred to as watermark information) into an image by a digital watermark technique and outputting the image by an analog method such as printing or display display. In this embodiment, command information for the pet robot 10 is used as watermark information. The command information is information that defines the output of the pet-type robot 10, such as “run”, “scream”, and “open mouth”. Actually, it is described as a command character string in a command language that the command execution unit 17 can recognize.

Here, an analog image 12 with a digital watermark is
Will be described. Analog image 12 with digital watermark
Are created using a known digital watermarking technique. For example, in order to generate an analog image 12 with a digital watermark that can be seen only by an apple when viewed by a human, an image in which a base apple (without a digital watermark) is drawn is prepared. If this image is an analog image, such as a silver halide photograph or one drawn on paper,
It is converted into a digital image by reading it with a scanner.
On the other hand, command information is prepared as watermark information to be embedded in this image.

Next, watermark information to be embedded is inserted into a digital image as a digital watermark by a predetermined digital watermark insertion algorithm. In the case of the present invention, since the purpose is to improve communication between a human and a pet robot device, an image in which a digital watermark has been inserted, the inserted digital watermark itself must not be perceived by a human,
Images must be easily viewable and accessible to humans. Therefore, it is necessary to convert the digital image into which the digital watermark has been inserted into an analog image by printing it with a printer or displaying it on a display device such as a CRT. Thus, the digital watermarked analog image 12 is generated.

Next, the internal configuration of the pet robot device 10 will be described. In the inside of the pet robot apparatus 10, in addition to the camera 11, an audio watermark detection unit 13 that is an electronic watermark detection unit that detects watermark information as an electronic watermark from an image captured by the camera 11, and an auditory sense configured by a microphone and the like. Sensor 14, a contact sensor 15 composed of a piezoelectric sensor or the like, an auditory sensor 14, and a contact sensor 15
A command determination unit 16 that determines an operation (for example, walking, squealing, talking, etc.) to be executed by the pet robot device 10 in response to an input to
A command execution unit 17 that is a command execution unit that executes a command in accordance with the watermark information from the digital watermark detection unit 13 and a command from the command determination unit 16; a driving mechanism 18 whose operation is controlled by the command execution unit 17;
A sound generation mechanism 19 whose operation is controlled by the command execution unit 17. The digital watermark detection unit 13 converts the digital watermarked analog image 12 captured by the camera 11 into a digital image, and converts the digital watermarked analog image 12
The digital watermark is detected using a digital watermark detection algorithm corresponding to the digital watermark insertion algorithm used when the digital watermark is inserted into the digital watermark. The drive mechanism 18
Is equipped with a motor for standing, sitting, or moving the limbs, a motor for moving the mouth, a motor for moving the neck, and the like. The digital watermark detection unit 13, the command determination unit 16 and the command execution unit 17 constitute the control unit 20 of the pet robot device 10.

Next, the operation of the pet robot device 10 will be described with reference to FIG.

The pet robot device 10 first includes the camera 1
1, the digital watermarked analog image 12 is input (step 101), and the digital watermark detection unit 13 attempts to detect a digital watermark from the captured image (step 1).
02). If the detection is successful, the digital watermark detection unit 13
Sends the detected watermark information to the command execution unit 17.
As a result, the command executing unit 17 regards the received watermark information as a command and performs a corresponding command operation,
The operation of the drive mechanism 18 or the sound generation mechanism 19 is controlled according to the content of the command (step 103). If the detection fails in step 102,
The digital watermark detection unit 13 sends information indicating that to the command output unit 17.

According to the first embodiment, the pet robot can show the analog image in which the command information is embedded by the digital watermarking technology, so that the pet robot can perform some operation corresponding to the analog image. . For example, an output that makes it easy to understand the causal relationship with the image presented by humans is output to the pet robot device, such as flickering the mouth when showing the picture of "apple" or fleeing when the mouse robot shows the picture of the cat. Can be made.

[Second Embodiment] Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described.
A pet robot device according to the embodiment will be described.
FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the outline of the pet robot device according to the second embodiment, and FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the pet robot device.

The pet robot device 21 is configured to connect to a server 23 via a network 22. The pet robot device 21 has substantially the same configuration as the pet robot device 10 shown in FIG.
A communication processing unit 24 is provided as communication processing means for connecting to the server 23 via the network 22. The watermark information detected by the digital watermark detection unit 13 is once sent to the server 23 via the communication processing unit 24. The difference is that the command information received via the communication processing unit 24 is given to the command execution unit 17 assuming that the watermark information has been converted into a command sequence. In FIG. 6, components denoted by the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 1 are the same functional blocks as those in FIG. 1, and thus description thereof will not be repeated here.

The pet robot device 21 is connected to the network 22 by some means such as wired or wireless, and can communicate with the server 23 via the network 22. In this case, the pet robot device 21
Need not be directly connected to the network 22 wirelessly / wired. For example, the pet robot device 21 wirelessly communicates with a personal computer (not shown), and the personal computer is connected to the network 22 by wire, so that the pet robot device 21 and the server 23 can communicate with each other via the network 22. Such a form may be used.

FIG. 7 shows the configuration of the server 23.
The server 23 includes a communication processing unit 31 for communicating via the network 22, and a command sequence database 3 describing correspondence between command sequence IDs (identification numbers) and command sequences.
2 and command string ID received as watermark information
And a search processing unit 33 that searches the command string database 32 based on the command string to obtain a corresponding command string. Here, the command sequence is a form of command information, and is a set of commands expressed by combining a plurality of single-function commands such as “run”, “sound”, and “open mouth”.

Next, the operation of the pet robot device will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

First, the pet robot device 21 has the camera 1
1, the digital watermarked analog image 12 is input (step 111), and the digital watermark detection unit 13 attempts to detect a digital watermark from the captured image (step 1).
12). If the detection is successful, the digital watermark detection unit 13
Sends the detected watermark information to the communication processing unit 24, and sends the watermark information to the server 23 via the network 22. Here, since the command ID is used as the watermark information, the server 23 regards the watermark information transmitted from the pet robot device 21 as the command sequence ID, and the search processing unit 33 converts the corresponding command sequence into the command sequence database 32. Is transmitted to the pet robot device 21 (step 113). The pet robot device 21 receives the command sequence transmitted from the server 23 in the communication processing unit 24 and sends it to the command execution unit 17. The command execution unit 17
By controlling the drive mechanism 18 and / or the utterance mechanism 19, a plurality of command operations corresponding to the received command sequence are performed (step 114). If the detection fails in step 112, the digital watermark detection unit 13
Sends information indicating that to the command output unit 17.

According to the second embodiment, the digital watermarked analog image 12 is compared to the first embodiment.
The operation of the pet robot device when it is shown to the pet robot device is performed not as a single function command but as a command sequence that is a combination of commands, so that the pet robot device can perform more complicated operations and express Power improves. Thus, communication between a human and the pet robot device can be made more natural. Also, by updating the contents of the command string database, the pet robot device can operate differently even when the same analog image with a digital watermark is shown.

[Third Embodiment] Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the pet robot device according to the third embodiment, and FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the operation of the pet robot device.

The pet robot device 41 is configured to connect to the server 43 via the network 22. The pet robot device 41 has substantially the same configuration as the pet robot device 21 shown in FIG.
Acquired knowledge database 46 and acquired knowledge database 4
6 and a knowledge processing unit 47 for searching the acquired knowledge database 46, using an image ID as watermark information, receiving attribute information instead of a command string from the server 43, and The difference is that a command is given to the command execution unit 17 according to the result of searching the acquired knowledge database 46 by the knowledge processing unit 47 according to the information. The server 43 is the same as the server 23 shown in FIG. 7 except that an attribute information database 48 is provided instead of the command string database 32. In FIGS. 9 and 10, those denoted by the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 6 or FIG. 7 are the same functional blocks as those in FIG. 6 or FIG. 7, and therefore description thereof will not be repeated here.

The attribute information database 48 is a database configured by associating image IDs with attribute information. Attribute information refers to what is depicted in the image, such as "the name of the object depicted in the image", "what category is itself", "characteristics such as its color and shape", etc. Various information. In the illustrated example, there are three types of attribute information, “name”, “classification”, and “color”. Assume that the image ID embedded in the digital watermarked analog image representing a red apple is 00000001, and this image ID Corresponding to the name "apple",
The classification “food” and the color “red” are stored. Further, the acquired knowledge database 46 includes an attribute information database 48
And stores attribute information obtained from the server 43 in the past.

Next, the processing in the pet robot device will be described with reference to FIG.

The pet robot device 41 first has the camera 1
1, the digital watermarked analog image 12 is input (step 121), and the digital watermark detection unit 13 attempts to detect a digital watermark from the captured image (step 1).
22). If the detection is successful, the digital watermark detection unit 13
Sends the detected watermark information to the communication processing unit 24, and sends the watermark information to the server 43 via the network 22. Here, since the image ID is used as the watermark information, the server 43 regards the watermark information transmitted from the pet robot device 41 as the image ID, and retrieves the corresponding attribute information from the attribute information database 48 by the search processing unit 33. The pet robot device 41 retrieves and obtains the obtained attribute information.
Send to The pet robot device 41 includes the communication processing unit 2
In 4, the attribute information transmitted from the server 43 is received, and the attribute information is stored in the acquired knowledge database 46 by the knowledge processing unit 47 (step 123).

The command execution unit 17 refers to the acquired knowledge database 46 via the knowledge processing unit 47, and performs a command operation using attribute information as a predetermined operation parameter (step 124). Specifically, the command execution unit 17 performs a command operation based on the attribute information by controlling the driving mechanism 18 and / or the utterance mechanism 19.

If the detection fails in step 122, the digital watermark detection unit 13 sends information indicating that to the command output unit 17.

In the third embodiment, the first and second
As compared with the embodiment, the digital watermark embedded in the digital watermarked analog image 12 is not a simple description of the operation of the pet robot device when the image is shown to the pet robot device. Use information that represents information that is what is. Then, when the image is shown, the acquired attribute information is used as a parameter of a certain fixed operation. For example, if you look at an image with a digital watermark,
When there is a routine action of saying, `` Apply the information given by the name of the attribute information to the XX part, when showing the image of the apple, the pet robot device said, `` It is an apple '' It is possible to talk.
The attribute information obtained once is accumulated in the acquired knowledge database 46 in the pet robot device, so that the pet robot device can learn based on the accumulated attribute information. For example, a pet robot device that first spoke an apple and said "It's an apple", and then showed a picture of a banana. Then I like apples. " Further, as the attribute information associated with the image ID, new fixed operation program information to be given to the robot can be realized. According to this, a pet robot that could not perform the operation of saying “OO is delicious,” until the “apple” was seen, changed the “robot is delicious” from the attribute information obtained from the apple image. I say, "
After obtaining the standard operation program, you will be able to say "Oh, delicious!" Furthermore, if you see the same image ID as the one you detected earlier,
You may be made to select and execute a fixed operation program such as "I saw it a moment ago, say". These appear to the user as a user as if the pet robot had acquired new knowledge and concepts. This makes it possible to make the communication between the human and the pet robot more natural.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the pet robot devices 10, 21, and 41 in each embodiment read a computer program for realizing the same into a computer such as an embedded microcomputer. And executing the program. In practice, this computer executes the processing of the processing unit 20 in FIG. 2, FIG. 6, or FIG. A program for realizing the pet robot device is read into a computer by a recording medium such as a memory card. FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a computer that controls the pet robot device.

This computer has a central processing unit (CPU) 5
1, a non-volatile memory 52 for storing programs and data of basic operations as a pet robot (operations other than operations when viewing an analog image with a digital watermark),
A RAM (random access memory) 53 used as a calculation area and the like, and a data input unit 54 to which data from the camera 11, the auditory sensor 14, and the contact sensor 15 are input.
And a data output unit 55 serving as an output interface to the drive mechanism 18 and the utterance mechanism 19, and a reading device 56 for reading a recording medium 57 such as a memory card. Furthermore, when communicating with the server side as in the second and third embodiments, a communication interface 58 is provided. The non-volatile memory 52, the RAM 53, the data input unit 54, the data output unit 55, the reading device 56, and the communication interface 58 are all a central processing unit 51
Connected to In the case of the third embodiment, the acquired knowledge database 46 is also provided in the nonvolatile memory 52.

This computer reads the recording medium 57 storing a program describing the processing when the digital watermarked analog image 12 is shown as described above.
6, the central processing unit 51 reads out the program from the recording medium 57, and executes the program, so that the pet robot apparatuses 10, 21, and 4 as described above.
The operation as 1 is performed.

When the computer system is configured as described above, the pet robot device is not provided as a physical entity, but is displayed virtually on the display screen of the computer in the form of a pet animal. Is also possible.
In that case, a display device may be provided instead of the data output unit serving as an interface with the driving mechanism and the generating mechanism.
However, a camera and a data input unit for inputting an analog image with a digital watermark are required. The operation of the pet is realized by the way the pet is displayed on the screen, the voice output function of the calculator, and the like.

The servers 23 and 43 can also be realized by causing a computer such as a personal computer or a server computer to read a computer program for realizing the server and executing the program.

In the embodiment of the present invention described above, the case where the present invention is applied to communication using images has been described. However, since digital watermarking technology for audio information already exists, digital information is not included in audio information such as music. It is possible to embed a watermark and operate the pet robot device in the same manner as described above. In addition, if any of the other digital watermarking techniques is applicable, if a corresponding sensor is provided in the pet robot, the same effect as the above embodiment can be realized. In any case, the use of digital watermarking makes it possible to convey semantic information to robots, which is "information that humans can easily understand but is difficult for robots to understand." It is possible to make it seem as if it is operating by understanding the meaning of the image, and it is possible to make communication between the human and the pet robot device more natural.

[0038]

As described above, according to the present invention,
By transmitting semantic information that is "information that humans can easily understand but difficult for robots to understand" by electronic watermarks that are "information that humans do not understand but can understand for robots", it is as if a pet robot presented a human. It is possible to understand the meaning of the captured image and to make it seem as if it is operating, and it is possible to make the communication between the human and the pet robot more natural.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an outline of a pet robot device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating image input to the pet robot device shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of the pet robot device shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a process in the pet robot device shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view illustrating a schematic shape of a pet robot device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of the pet robot device shown in FIG.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating an internal configuration of a server connected to the pet robot device illustrated in FIG. 5;

8 is a flowchart showing a process in the pet robot device shown in FIG.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating an internal configuration of a pet robot device according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating an internal configuration of a server connected to a pet robot device according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

11 is a flowchart showing a process in the pet robot device shown in FIG.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a computer that controls the pet robot device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10, 21, 41 Pet robot device 11 Camera 12 Analog image with digital watermark 13 Digital watermark detection unit 14 Auditory sensor 15 Contact sensor 16 Command determination unit 17 Command execution unit 18 Drive mechanism 19 Sounding mechanism 20 Processing unit 22 Network 23, 43 Server 24, 31 Communication processing unit 32 Command string database 33 Search processing unit 46 Acquired knowledge database 47 Knowledge processing unit 48 Attribute information database

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) G10L 11/00 G10L 3/00 R H04N 1/387 9/00 E (72) Inventor Masafumi Sakamoto Chiyoda, Tokyo 2-3-1 Otemachi-ku, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Co., Ltd. (72) Kazuya Kadokoshi 2-3-1, Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Takashima Yoichi 2-3-1 Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (72) Inventor Tadashi Nakanishi 2-3-1 Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo F-term in Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (reference) 2C150 CA01 CA02 DA04 DA05 DA24 DA26 DA27 DA28 DF03 DF04 DF33 ED42 ED52 EF01 EF07 EF16 EF23 EF29 EF33 EF36 3C007 AS36 CS08 ES07 JS03 KS03 KS08 KT01 MT14 MT15 WA04 WA14 WB16 WB19 WB25 WC25 57 AA05 BA02 CA08 CA12 CA16 CB08 CB12 CB16 CE08 CH01 DA17 DA20 5C076 AA14 BA06 5D045 AB11 AB26

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A pet robot device that performs some operation in response to the presentation of information from a user, comprising: input means for inputting the presented information; and a digital watermark embedded from the input information. A pet robot device comprising: a digital watermark detection unit configured to detect information defining an operation of the pet robot device; and a command execution unit configured to execute a command operation corresponding to the command information using the detected information as command information. 2. A pet robot device which performs some operation in response to the presentation of information from a user, comprising: an input unit for inputting the presented information; and a digital watermark embedded from the input information. Electronic watermark detection means for detecting information defining the operation of the pet robot device; and communication processing for transmitting the detected information to an external server as watermark information and receiving command information corresponding to the watermark information from the external server And a command execution unit for executing a command operation corresponding to the received command information. 3. A pet robot device that performs some operation in response to the presentation of information from a user, wherein the input device inputs the presented information, and is embedded as a digital watermark from the input information. Digital watermark detection means for detecting information defining the operation of the pet robot device; and communication processing for transmitting the detected information to an external server as watermark information and receiving attribute information corresponding to the watermark information from the external server A pet robot device comprising: means; a database for storing received attribute information; and command executing means for executing a command operation corresponding to the attribute information using the attribute information stored in the database. 4. A recording medium readable by a computer that controls a pet robot apparatus that performs some operation in response to presentation of information from a user, wherein the computer is embedded as an electronic watermark from input information. Electronic watermark detection means for detecting information defining the operation of the pet robot device, and a program for functioning as command execution means for executing the command operation corresponding to the command information using the detected information as command information. Pet robot device program recording medium in which is stored. 5. A recording medium readable by a computer that controls a pet robot apparatus that performs some operation in response to the presentation of information from a user, wherein the computer is embedded as a digital watermark from input information. Digital watermark detection means for detecting information that defines the operation of the pet robot device, which transmits the detected information to an external server as watermark information, and receives command information corresponding to the watermark information from the external server A pet robot device program recording medium storing a processing means and a program for functioning as a command execution means for executing a command operation corresponding to received command information. 6. A recording medium readable by a computer that controls a pet robot apparatus that performs some operation in response to presentation of information from a user, wherein the pet is embedded as a digital watermark from input information. Digital watermark detection means for detecting information defining the operation of the robot device; communication processing means for transmitting the detected information to an external server as watermark information; and receiving attribute information corresponding to the watermark information from the external server; A pet robot device program recording medium storing a database for storing attribute information obtained by using the attribute information stored in the database, and a program for functioning as command execution means for executing a command operation corresponding to the attribute information .