IoT and AI Based Emotion Detection and Face Recognition System

Human facial emotion detection is a prime goal in the current technical world. Robotic applications are being applied in almost all domains. To enable successful human-robotic interaction, emotion recognition is crucial. This project aims to develop and implement a novel, automatic emotion detection system and facial recognition system based on AI (Artificial Intelligence) and IoT (Internet of Things).

Participatory Research Principles in Human-Centered Design: Engaging Teens in the Co-Design of a Social Robot

Social robots are emerging as an important intervention for a variety of vulnerable populations. However, engaging participants in the design of social robots in a way that is ethical, meaningful, and rigorous can be challenging. Many current methods in human–robotic interaction rely on laboratory practices, often experimental, and many times involving deception which could erode trust in vulnerable populations. Therefore, in this paper, we share our human-centered design methodology informed by a participatory approach, drawing on three years of data from a project aimed to design and develop a social robot to improve the mental health of teens. We present three method cases from the project that describe creative and age appropriate methods to gather contextually valid data from a teen population. Specific techniques include design research, scenario and script writing, prototyping, and teens as operators and collaborative actors. In each case, we describe the method and its implementation and discuss the potential strengths and limitations. We conclude by situating these methods by presenting a set of recommended participatory research principles that may be appropriate for designing new technologies with vulnerable populations.

Design and Analysis of a Novel Variable Stiffness Joint for Robot

As people pay more attention to the safety of human-robotic interaction, the flexibility of machine joints is becoming more and more important. To address the needs of future robotic applications, many kinds of variable stiffness mechanisms have been designed by scientists. But most of the structures are complex. By studying and comparing many different mechanism designs of variable stiffness joint, we recognize the need to miniaturization and reduce weight of variable stiffness joints with high frequency operation. To address this, need a continuously Variable Compliant Joint (CVCJ) was designed. The core of the joint is based on the structure of the spherical continuously variable transmission (SCVT) which is the catalyst to change the stiffness continuously and smoothly. In this paper, we present a compact variable stiffness joint structure to meet the volume and weight requirements of the future robotic systems. We show the connection between the joint stiffness coefficient and the structure parameters by making mathematical analysis, modelling and simulation for the system to verify the ability to satisfy the base application requirements of the compliant joint.

User Performance Testing Indicator

A growing area of research in Human Computer Interaction (HCI) and Human Robotic Interaction (HRI) is the development of haptic-based user performance testing. User performance testing Usability forms a vital part of these test objectives. As a result, diverse usability methods/strategies and test features are being employed. Apparently, with the robustness of haptic-based user performance testing features, user performance still has challenges. With this regard, it is vital to identify the direction and effectiveness of these methods/strategies and test features, and improvements required in the test objectives and evaluation. This chapter seeks to investigate the challenges of user performance and the user performance indicators in some HCI and HRI researches involving haptic-based test, as well as presents a User Performance Indicator Tool (UPIT) as a test validation tool to aid designers/testers in enhancing their user performance test and test evaluation outcomes.