Control device, control method, and program

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2021232150-A1
Application number	US-201917052753-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Feb 25, 2019
Priority date	May 15, 2018
Publication date	Jul 29, 2021
Grant date	—

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

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

2 . The control device according to claim 1 , wherein the emotional expression implies expression causing decline in efficiency of action decided by the action decision managing unit.

3 . The control device according to claim 1 , wherein, when difficulty level of recognition for the recognizing unit is determined to be high, the behavior managing unit determines to exhibit the emotional expression.

4 . The control device according to claim 1 , wherein difficulty level of recognition for the recognizing unit is determined based on at least one or more of
count or types of sensors used in obtaining the sensing information, complexity of the external environment, recognition algorithm implemented by the recognizing unit, and reliability or required accuracy of recognition result obtained by the recognizing unit.

5 . The control device according to claim 1 , wherein, when difficulty level of action decision for the action decision managing unit is high, the behavior managing unit determines to exhibit the emotional expression.

6 . The control device according to claim 1 , wherein difficulty level of action decision for the action decision managing unit is determined based on at least one or more of
number of options for the action to be taken, presence or absence of relative merits or history, and complexity or limiting condition of action decision by the action decision managing unit.

7 . The control device according to claim 1 , wherein the drive control unit controls execution of action of 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 expression indicating emotion of the robot device.

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

10 . The control device according to claim 7 , wherein, further based on presence of user of the robot device, the behavior managing unit determines about whether or not to exhibit the emotional expression.

11 . The control device according to claim 10 , wherein, further based on degree of attention of the user toward the robot device, the behavior managing unit determines about whether or not to exhibit the emotional expression.

12 . The control device according to claim 11 , wherein, when degree of attention of the user toward the robot device is determined to be high, the behavior managing unit determines to exhibit the emotional expression.

13 . The control device according to claim 11 , wherein degree of attention of the user toward the robot device is determined based on at least one or more of
image recognition of image of the user, speech recognition or context recognition of speech of the user, and input from the user.

14 . The control device according to claim 10 , wherein, further based on attribute of the user, the behavior managing unit determines whether or not to exhibit the emotional expression.

15 . The control device according to claim 10 , wherein determination criterion regarding difficulty level of recognition for the recognizing unit or regarding difficulty level of action decision for the action decision managing unit is modified based on the attribute of the user.

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

17 . A control method implemented in an arithmetic device, comprising:
recognizing external environment based on sensing information; deciding that, based on the recognized external environment, includes deciding on action to be taken; determining that, based on at least either difficulty level of recognition or difficulty level of action decision, includes determining about whether or not to exhibit emotional expression; and controlling that, based on determination, includes controlling execution of action corresponding to the emotional expression.

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

Assignees

• Sony Corp

Inventors

• Torii Kuniaki
• Nakai Mikio
• Kudo Yusuke

Classifications

• B25J13/08

  by means of sensing devices, e.g. viewing or touching devices · CPC title

• B25J9/0003

  Home robots, i.e. small robots for domestic use · 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

• G06N5/046

  Forward inferencing; Production systems · CPC title