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Sexy Actroid greets people in four languages!

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Author: Kokoro

KOKORO Co., Ltd. and Advanced Media, Inc. have developed "ACTROID", a female-type reception robot that has been designed as an "Android receptionist bearing a striking resemblance to a woman with a good command of four languages" with the objective of promoting a "System Development toward Practical Use" under the NEDO "2004 Next-Generation Robot Commercialization Project". ACTROID serves as a Robot Information at the World Expo 2005 Aichi, Japan running from March 25. Characteristics: ACTROID understands naturally spoken words of the visitors in four languages (Japanese, Chinese, Korean and English). Moreover, ACTROID can carry on conversations with the visitors on various subjects including site information in the relevant language in a synthetic but true-to-life voice. ACTROID has a realistic appearance in perfect analogy to humans. ACTROID is capable of controlling its motions harmonized with a context of conversation expressively just like a human-being (facial expressions, lip motions and behaviors) . Android that makes conversation with human-like natural expressions and behaviors. Capable of recognizing four languages such as Japanese, English, Chinese and Korean. A booth houses at its roof area: a sound collector microphone for voice recognition; an all-directional camera for image recognition; and a stereo-camera. Also, a human-detecting sensor is embedded in a table to detect a person near the booth and identify its position. Height: 2300 mm Width : 1200 mm Depth : 1750 mm -ACTROID is a registered trademark of KOKORO Company,Ltd. ACTROID Microphone [Voice] Noise Echo Cancellation Filter the environmental noises from the utterance Language Identification Voice Recognition Semantic Analysis Conversation Control Voice Synthesizer Motions Generation at ACTROID Speaker [It looks like a human-being.] Identifies a language [English] Characteristics of Voice Recognition of ACTROID Developed group at Advanced Media, Inc. -Ability to recognize a speech in four languages: Being equipped with a voice recognition engine "AmiVoice®", ACTROID recognizes and understands four languages such as Japanese, English, Chinese and Korean. With a conversation control function for making a response in suit with a situation, AmiVoice® allows ACTROID to make a flexible and suitable reply to a variety of questions of visitors. -Ability to understand languages in various intonations without prior voice registration: Being the most advanced technology in the world, a voice recognition engine "AmiVoice®" conducts a speech recognition not per word but per sentence (talk), and recognizes a "natural speech" of an "anonymous speaker" without prior voice registration. This feature is of great utility in a situation in which a prior voice registration is impracticable as is the case of the World Expo of this time. AmiVoice has realized the voice recognition with high accuracy virtually freely from the differences in accents and intonations unique to each region, voice qualities which vary with age and sex, and voice pitches (high or low) and speaking speeds of each visitor. -Noise Echo Cancellation: AmiVoice® implements a noise cancellation technology to ensure the accuracy of voice recognition even in an environment like the World Expo of this time in which many kinds of people walk around and speak in every corner or in a place like downtown or busy street flooded with noise. Also, it implements another echo cancellation technology by which ACTROID is prevented from recognizing its own utterance (its own voice). -Voice Synthesizer to generate natural voice: If ACTROID utters an inhuman voice in spite of its human-like appearance, we will feel it strange. ACTROID is equipped with a voice synthesizer system, which generates a natural voice being similar to the human's voice. [Voice] Converts voice utterances into characters Understands the meaning of a question [Language used in a question] Decides what to answer [Is it true? I'm happy.] Is it true? I'm happy. [Voice] Converts an answer sentence into voice utterance [Motion Pattern] Acts like a human-being in suit with a context of speech. While speaking, ACTROID looks at visitor's face and moves its lips in synchronous with a speech. -AmiVoice is a registered trademark of Advanced Media Inc. It looks like a human-being. Realistic Appearance and Motions of ACTROID Development group at KOKORO Company, Ltd. -Realistic and impressive appearance (Exterior Manufacturing Engineering): A reception robot "ACTROID" has a realistic appearance in a perfect analogy to humans. We have studied and developed ACTROID in an effort of making its face, hands and figure similar to a human being as close as possible. ACTROID is identical to a human being realistically, right down to the eye-balls, eyelashes and hairstyle. At the World Expo, four ACTROID will make their debuts. Every ACTROID has a mutually different face. -Expressive and smooth motions (Mechanical Design and Engineering): A reception robot "ACTROID" has 42-degree-of-freedom (42 motion points and joints). We have studied human-like motions and placed their driving mechanism under a life-sized appearance of ACTROID. We could go so far as to make ACTROID to mimic lips' motions and facial expressions of humans. -Realistic motions matching to a context of conversation (System Development and Engineering): A reception robot "ACTROID" is equipped with a specific system that allows ACTROID to make natural motions in suit with a context of conversation. When communicating with a visitor, ACTROID looks at the visitor's face, speaks with its mouth moving to match with a shape of pronunciation, and changes its facial expressions with gestures in accordance with a context of conversation. While being fulfilled with these functions, ACTROID is controlled by the latest advanced system for materializing the motions looking like humans. -Air servo system for enabling natural smooth motions: A reception robot "ACTROID" employs air pressure as its power source. Highly pressurized air is supplied to an actuator called a cylinder to actuate mechanical units. Generally speaking, an actuator used for heavy machinery employs hydraulic pressure instead of pneumatic one. As ACTROID employs a pneumatic air-driven actuator, it makes no heat emission nor noise. ACTROID is equipped with an air servo system developed by KOKORO Company, Ltd. on its own. It is this air servo system that allows smooth operation in spite of its scaled-down size. Scenarios for actualizing natural conversations (Total Production and Presentation): We have devised scenarios for enabling ACTROID to greet with visitors and serve as a guide to the World Expo, and besides, to make conversation with visitors in various situations. The production know-how acquired by KOKORO until today has been reflected to a design of conversation flow of ACTROID. Then, such design has been implemented in a production system of ACTROID by Advance Media Inc. ACTROID keeps trying to answer even to a trifling question. She will be happy if she is praised, but she will be disappointed and sulky if she is mocked. Place of Exhibition Site and our Contacts Place of Exhibition Site: You can see an ACTROID at each general information center that is located directly after each gate (east, north and west) of the World Expo. Each ACTROID is waiting for you in a specific personal booth called "Robot Information". You can see another type of ACTROID who makes its appearance as MC at a robot show on a robot stage held in a Robot Station and serves to introduce you the other robots. This ACTROID is a stage-type of specific figure and waiting for you in a standing position at the left of the stage. We hope you will have fun speaking with her too.

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