發明家研發“面具機器人” 能做表情會說話

A robot face so realistic that it can even flutter its eyelids has been hailed by its inventors as the next-step in human-robot relations.

Mask-bot, developed by engineers at the Technical University of Munich and in Japan, can also move its head a little, raise its eyebrows and talk, bringing the sort of robots seen on blockbuster I, Robot a step closer.

The realism is achieved by a projector positioned behind the mask accurately beaming a human face onto the back of a mask, producing features that can even be seen from the side.

“Mask-bot will influence the way in which we humans communicate with robots in the future,”predicts Professor Gordon Cheng, head of the research team.

The robot’s language skills are already such that upon hearing the word “rainbow”， it replies: “When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act like a prism and form a rainbow.”

However, Mask-bot is not yet able to understand much of the spoken word.

Mask-bot’s face has its origins in cinema technology first developed by Walt Disney.

Whereas Walt Disney projected images from the front, the makers of Mask-bot use on-board rear projection to ensure a seamless face-to-face interaction.

Mask-bot is also bright enough to function in daylight thanks to a particularly strong and small projector and a coating of luminous paint sprayed on the inside of the plastic mask.據英國《每日郵報》11月8日報道，發明家研製出了一款能夠眨眼的仿真機器人，在研製人工智能機的道路上前進了一步。

這款面具機器人由慕尼黑工業大學以及日本的工程師研發。它還能夠輕微的轉動頭部，擡眉以及說話。這使得人類離研發出與電影《人工智能》中同類型的機器人更近了一步。

實際上這些面部動作是用安裝在面具後的投影儀精確的照在人臉上而獲得的。它製造出了即使從側面也能看得到的容貌。

該研發小組的負責人——戈登-陳教授預言：“面具機器人將會影響未來人類和機器人的交流方式。”

這款機器人的語言能力已經到達當聽到詞語“彩虹”就回復“當陽光穿透空氣中的雨滴，它們就能起到棱鏡的作用反射光線從而形成彩虹。”

然而，面具機器人尚未能理解大多數的口語。

面具機器人的臉部源自於由迪尼斯公司最先研發的電影技術。

然而迪斯尼公司是從前方投影成像的，而面具機器人的製造者使用的是車載式背面投影儀，確保了毫無阻礙的面對面互動模式。

由於安裝了一個特別的強光小型投影儀，並且在塑料面具的內部塗有發光漆，使得面具機器人足夠明亮，在日光下工作也能正常工作。