OUR RESEARCH

Carnegie Mellon Researchers Create a Robot with Character

Horatio Doc Beardsley is an absent-minded inventor who says he was born on a mountaintop in Austria to a family of goat herders. More than that, he's the first conversationally interactive animatronic character who can react and respond to his audience. (http://www.etc.cmu.edu/projects/iai/doc.html)

Doc Beardsley is the product of the Interactive Animatronics Initiative (IAI), a collaboration between Carnegie Mellon University's Entertainment Technology Center (ETC) and the Robotics Institute in the School of Computer Science.

The IAI aims to develop technology that will make robots more entertaining through their lifelike interactions with human audiences, and Doc Beardsley is their first venture. Custom software and a custom-built head that is animated by robotic devices allow Doc to interact with people by responding to questions, discussing a topic, exhibiting his mood, singing songs, and even burping, hiccupping, sneezing or snoring.

Once Doc is switched on, a number of computer technologies work together to create the appearance of a living being. Through a blend of speech recognition, synthetic interview technology, discussion engines, and audio, visual and animatronic technology, Doc is able to embody the realistic character of an old not-all-there inventor of such marvels as the milkbed, the antisnooze, the foon, and endless bread.

ETC graduate student Tim Eck first envisioned an animatronic character that would be able to converse with a guest. His collaboration with Robotics Institute research engineer Todd Camill led to the founding of the IAI. ETC co-directors Don Marinelli and Randy Pausch then organized a team of ETC students to help with Doc's formation.

Camill thinks that the most important part of Doc is his character. He says it's essential for Doc to act as human as possible.

"When we get it right, you think you're talking to a real human character and forget about the technology behind it, just like a good movie."

Making Doc's character forgetful and aloof was not entirely accidental, according to his creators. Camill said that it helps to add humor to Doc's personality and "fills in the gaps" when he cannot answer a question, allowing him to provide vague and generic replies that still fit in with his character's personality.

ETC graduate student Ron Weaver also stresses the importance theatrics plays in the interaction.

"We're working backwards. We started with a great character because, despite the technology, if a robotic personality can't entertain an audience, it's scrap metal."

In addition to character, the IAI team makes robots that are aware of their environment and able to respond to surrounding cues through visual and audio perception.

In the future, Camill hopes that Doc will appear even more human-like. IAI researchers are developing a complete silicon skin for Doc and are adding more animatronic features, like the movement of Doc's eyelids, arms and torso.

Doc's future is still being decided, but the technology has several potential uses, like location-based entertainment for amusement parks or theme restaurants. However, Doc and the animatronic characters that will follow him may also be used as information kiosks, as embodied personal digital assistants, or as historical figures in museums.

The IAI is currently funded internally by the Entertainment Technology Center and uses equipment from the Robotics Institute. Carnegie Mellon's ETC was founded in 1999 to create new processes, tools and vision for story telling and entertainment.

For more information on the ETC, its educational programs and projects, check out the web site at http://www.etc.cmu.edu.