The SEER robot, created by Takayuki Todo, establishes eye contact with the person closest to him and repeats his facial expression. The device was presented at the exhibition SIGGRAPH, now taking place in Vancouver.

SEER stands for Simulative Emotional Expression Robot ("the robot that mimics the emotional expression"). It switches between two modes: imitation and eye contact. Both are based on the work of the camera, which recognizes and tracks the traits of people in real time.

In imitation mode, SEER repeats the eyebrows and eyes of the viewer, as well as the position of his head. While it turns out not perfect: the face of the robot sometimes passes something like a cramp. All the guilt of the interference when reading the person's face. In the mode of eye contact, all facial drives move autonomously, until the robot looks up into your eyes.

Of course, the real faces of people are more expressive and natural, but SEER definitely opens up new horizons for the "sinister valley". So far this is only an art project, but the underlying technology has great potential.

robo-hunter.com