A research group at Kyoto University has developed a humanoid robot equipped with a function that analyzes the characteristics of people's laughter and makes them laugh together.
The group hopes to lead to the realization of a robot that can read conversations and emotions as the aging society progresses.
This was announced by a research group led by Assistant Professor Harutaka Inoue of the Kyoto University Graduate School of Informatics at a press conference held in Sakyo Ward, Kyoto City on the 28th.
The group has equipped an already developed humanoid robot capable of conversation with a function that utilizes AI (artificial intelligence) to analyze the laughter of the person with whom it is interacting and make it laugh together.
The robot is equipped with data from 82 conversations actually held by people, and judges human laughter based on frequency and other factors.
It is designed to synchronize with the other person's voice, and depending on the volume and characteristics of the voice, the robot will make a loud laughter or a subdued laughter.
Assistant Professor Inoue said, "The first time he laughed along with my laughter, I felt as if we could understand each other. With the aging society progressing, this will lead to the realization of a robot that makes people feel good about talking. I want to go there."
The research group will also use a robot equipped with similar functions to verify the effect that laughing together has on human psychology.