Researchers at National Sun Yat-sen University in Taiwan are using artificial neural networks in developing a vision module that might one day help robot pets recognize human facial expressions and respond appropriately.

“We have developed a user-centric interactive framework that employs a neural network-based approach to construct behavior primitives and behavior arbitrators for robots,” the team explains in the current issue of the International Journal of Modelling, Identification and Control.

There are three major issues to considered in robot design, the team explains. The first is to construct an appropriate control architecture by which the robot can behave coherently. The second is to develop natural ways for the robot to interact with a person. The third is to embed emotional responses and behavior into the robot’s computer.

The researchers hope to address all three issues by adopting an approach to behavior-based architecture, using a neural network, that could allow the owner of a robot pet to reconfigure the device to “learn,” or evolve new behavior,  and ensure that the robot pet functions properly in real time.

Ultimately, they hope to be able to build a robot pet that could recognize its owner’s facial expressions and perhaps respond accordingly. Such a development has major implications for interactive devices, computers and functional robots of the future.

Ref: “Building neural network-based behavior systems for emotion-based pet robots” in Int. J. Modelling, Identification and Control, 2010, 11, 115-123

More info: Inderscience Publishers