Designing Robot Eyes and Head and Their Motions for Gaze Communication

Human eyes not only serve the function of enabling us “to see” something, but also perform the vital role of allowing us “to show” our gaze for non-verbal communication. The gaze of service robots should therefore also perform this function of “showing” in order to facilitate communication with humans. We have already examined which shape of robot eyes is most suitable for gaze reading while giving the friendliest impression, through carrying out experiments where we altered the shape and iris size of robot eyes. However, we need to consider more factors for effective gaze communication. Eyes are facial parts on the head and move with it. Thus, we examine how the robot should move its head when it turns to look at something. Then, we investigate which shape of robot head is suitable for gaze communication. In addition, we consider how the robot move its eyes and head while not attending to any particular object. We also consider the coordination of head and eye motions and the effect of blinking while turning its head. We propose appropriate head and eye design and their motions and confirm their effectiveness through experiments using human participants.