Control device and control method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2024302843-A1
Application number	US-202418663945-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	May 14, 2024
Priority date	May 15, 2018
Publication date	Sep 12, 2024
Grant date	—

Abstract

A control device includes a recognizing unit that recognizes an external environment based on sensing information, an action decision managing unit that, based on the recognized external environment, decides on actions 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 expressions, and a drive control unit that, based on the determination performed by the behavior managing unit, controls execution of the actions corresponding to the emotional expressions.

First claim

What is 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 a degree of attention of a user toward the control device;
determine, based on the difficulty level of the recognition of the external environment and the degree of attention of the user toward the control device, whether to exhibit an emotional expression; and
control, based on the determination to exhibit the emotional expression, execution of a first action corresponding to the emotional expression.

2 . The control device according to claim 1 , wherein the emotional expression 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 is higher than a specific level, 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 that obtain 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 the control device is associated with a robot device.

6 . The control device according to claim 5 , wherein the emotional expression indicates an emotion of the robot device.

7 . The control device according to claim 5 , wherein the emotional expression evokes feelings of personal attachment in the user of the robot device.

8 . The control device according to claim 1 , wherein, in a case where the degree of attention of the user toward the control device is higher than a specific degree, the CPU is further configured to determine to exhibit the emotional expression.

9 . The control device according to claim 1 , wherein the CPU is further configured to determine the degree of attention of the user toward the control device based on at least one of
image recognition of an image of the user, one of speech recognition or context recognition of a speech of the user, or an input from the user.

10 . The control device according to claim 1 , wherein the CPU is further configured to determine, based on an attribute of the user, whether to exhibit the emotional expression.

11 . The control device according to claim 10 , wherein the CPU is further configured to modify, based on the attribute of the user, a determination criterion regarding the difficulty level of the recognition.

12 . The control device according to claim 1 , wherein the CPU is further configured to determine, based on the recognized external environment, a second action to be taken.

13 . The control device according to claim 12 , wherein the CPU is further configured to determine a difficulty level of the determination of the second action based on at least one of
a number of options for the second action, a presence or an absence of relative merits or history, a complexity of the second action, or a limiting condition of the second action.

14 . The control device according to claim 12 , wherein, in a case where a difficulty level of the determination of the second action is higher than a specific level, the CPU is further configured to determine to exhibit the emotional expression.

15 . A control method, comprising:
in a control device:
recognizing an external environment based on sensing information;
determining a difficulty level of the recognition of the external environment;
determining a degree of attention of a user toward the control device;
determining, based on the difficulty level of the recognition of the external environment and the degree of attention of the user toward the control device, whether to exhibit an emotional expression; and
controlling, based on the determination to exhibit the emotional expression, execution of a first action corresponding to the emotional expression.

16 . The control method according to claim 15 , wherein the emotional expression causes a decline in an efficiency of the first action.

17 . The control method according to claim 15 , further comprising determining to exhibit the emotional expression in a case where the difficulty level of the recognition is higher than a specific level.

18 . The control method according to claim 15 , further comprising determining the difficulty level of the recognition based on at least one of
a count or types of sensors that obtain the sensing information, a complexity of the external environment, a recognition algorithm implemented for the recognition, or a reliability or a required accuracy of the recognition.

19 . The control method according to claim 15 , further comprising determining, based on the recognized external environment, a second action to be taken.

20 . The control method according to claim 19 , further comprising determining a difficulty level of the determination of the second action based on at least one of
a number of options for the second action, a presence or an absence of relative merits or history, a complexity of the second action, or a limiting condition of the second action.

Assignees

• Sony Group Corp

Inventors

• Toril 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