Control device and control method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12117848-B2
Application number	US-201917052753-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 25, 2019
Priority date	May 15, 2018
Publication date	Oct 15, 2024
Grant date	Oct 15, 2024

Abstract

A control device includes a recognizing unit that recognizes the external environment based on sensing information; an action decision managing unit that, based on the recognized external environment, decides on the actions to be taken; a behavior managing unit that, based on at least either the difficulty level of recognition for the recognizing unit or the difficulty level of action decision for the action decision managing unit, determines about whether or not to exhibit emotional expressions; and a drive control unit that, based on the determination performed by the behavior control unit, controls the execution of the actions corresponding to emotional expressions.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A control device, comprising:
a central processing unit (CPU) configured to:
recognize an external environment based on sensing information;
determine a difficulty level of the recognition of the external environment;
determine, based on the recognized external environment, a first action to be taken;
determine a difficulty level of the determination of the first action based on at least one of
a number of options for the first action, or
a complexity of the first action;

determine, based on at least one of the difficulty level of the recognition of the external environment or the difficulty level of the determination of the first action whether to exhibit an emotional expression; and
control, based on the determination to exhibit the emotional expression, execution of a second action corresponding to the emotional expression.

2. The control device according to claim 1 , wherein the emotional expression implies an expression that causes a decline in an efficiency of the first action.

3. The control device according to claim 1 , wherein, in a case where the difficulty level of the recognition high, the CPU is further configured to determine to exhibit the emotional expression.

4. The control device according to claim 1 , wherein the CPU is further configured to determine the difficulty level of the recognition based on at least one of
a count or types of sensors used in obtaining the sensing information,
a complexity of the external environment,
a recognition algorithm implemented for the recognition by the CPU, or
a reliability or a required accuracy of the recognition.

5. The control device according to claim 1 , wherein, in a case where the difficulty level of the determination of the first action is high, the CPU is further configured to determine to exhibit the emotional expression.

6. The control device according to claim 1 , wherein the CPU is further configured to determine the difficulty level of the determination of the first action based on at least one of
a presence or an absence of relative merits or history, or
a limiting condition of the first action.

7. The control device according to claim 1 , wherein the CPU is further configured to control a robot device that is used as a robotic pet or an ornamental robot.

8. The control device according to claim 7 , wherein the emotional expression implies an expression indicating an emotion of the robot device.

9. The control device according to claim 7 , wherein the emotional expression implies an expression of the robot device which evokes feelings of personal attachment in a user of the robot device.

10. The control device according to claim 7 , wherein the CPU is further configured to determine, based on a presence of a user of the robot device, whether to exhibit the emotional expression.

11. The control device according to claim 10 , wherein the CPU is further configured to determine, based on a degree of attention of the user toward the robot device, whether to exhibit the emotional expression.

12. The control device according to claim 11 , wherein, in a case where the degree of attention of the user toward the robot device is high, the CPU is further configured to determine to exhibit the emotional expression.

13. The control device according to claim 11 , wherein the CPU is further configured to determine the degree of attention of the user toward the robot device is based on at least one of
image recognition of an image of the user,
speech recognition or context recognition of a speech of the user, or
an input from the user.

14. The control device according to claim 10 , wherein the CPU is further configured to determine, based on an attribute of the user, whether to exhibit the emotional expression.

15. The control device according to claim 14 , the CPU is further configured to modify, based on the attribute of the user, a determination criterion regarding the difficulty level of the recognition or regarding the difficulty level of the determination of the first action.

16. The control device according to claim 7 , wherein the sensing information is obtained by a sensor unit installed in the robot device.

17. A control method implemented in an arithmetic device, comprising:
recognizing an external environment based on sensing information;
determining a difficulty level of the recognition of the external environment;
determining, based on the recognized external environment, a first action to be taken;
determining a difficulty level of the determination of the first action based on at least one of
a number of options for the first action, or
a complexity of the first action;

determining, based on at least one of the difficulty level of the recognition or the difficulty level of the determination of the first action, whether to exhibit emotional expression; and
controlling, based on the determination to exhibit the emotional expression, execution of a second action corresponding to the emotional expression.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon, computer-executable instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to execute operations, the operations comprising:
recognizing an external environment based on sensing information;
determining a difficulty level of the recognition of the external environment;
determining, based on the recognized external environment, a first action to be taken;
determining a difficulty level of the determination of the first action based on at least one of
a number of options for the first action, or
a complexity of the first action;

determining, based on at least one of the difficulty level of the recognition or the difficulty level of the determination of the first action, whether to exhibit emotional expression; and
controlling, based on the determination to exhibit the emotional expression, execution of a second action corresponding to the emotional expression.

Assignees

• Sony Corp

Inventors

• Torii Kuniaki
• Nakai Mikio
• Kudo Yusuke

Classifications

• G05D1/247

  using signals provided by artificial sources external to the vehicle, e.g. navigation beacons · CPC title

• G06V40/10

  Human or animal bodies, e.g. vehicle occupants or pedestrians; Body parts, e.g. hands · CPC title

• G06V20/10

  Terrestrial scenes (scenes under surveillance with static cameras G06V20/52; scenes perceived from the exterior of a vehicle G06V20/56; scenes perceived from the interior of a vehicle G06V20/59) · CPC title

• G10L15/22

  Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue · CPC title

• G10L15/1815

  Semantic context, e.g. disambiguation of the recognition hypotheses based on word meaning · CPC title