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168 Socially Intelligent AgentsExternal interfaces. the robot connects to a keyboard (8 words), whichcan also be used as an electronic xylophone (8 notes), and a joystick (to controlthe movement). The robot can connect through a serial link to a PC (thecode for the PC is written in C and C++ and runs both under linux and windows95/98/2000. 96M RAM, Pentium II, 266MHz). A PC-robot interfacingprogram allows one to interact with the robot through speech and vision.Motors. The robot is provided with 5 motors to drive separately the twoarms, the two legs (forward motion) and the head (sideways turn). A prototypeof motor system to drive the two eyes in coordinated sideways motion is underconstruction.Imitation game with infra-red. The robot has 4 pairs of infra-red emitter/receptorto detect the user’s hand and head movements. The sensors aremounted on the robot’s body and the emitters are mounted on a pair of glovesand glasses which the user wear. The sensors on the robot’s body detect themovement of the emitters on the head and hands of the user. In response to theuser’s movement, the robot moves (in mirror fashion) its head and its arms, asshown in Figure 20.2 (left).Imitation game with camera. A wireless CCD camera (30MHZ) attachedto a PC tracks optical flow to detect vertical motion of the left and right armsof the instructor. The PC sends via the serial link the position of each of theinstructor’s arm to direct the mirror movement in the robot (Figure 20.2, right).Other Sensors. The robot is provided with touch sensors (electrical switches),placed under the feet, inside the hands, on top of the head and in the mouth, atilt sensor which measures the vertical inclination of the body and a pyroelectricsensor, sensitive to the heat of human body.Speech. Production and recognition of speech is provided by ELANsynthesizer 8 and speech processing software from Viavoice (in French) andDragon (in English). Speech is translated into ordered strings of words (writtenlanguage).2.2 Software: Behavioral capabilities“Baby behaviors”. The Robota doll can engage in a simple interactionwith the user by demonstrating baby-like behaviors, which requires the userto “take care” of the robot. These are built-in behaviors, implemented as a setof internal variables (happiness, tiredness, playfulness and hungriness) whichvary over time. For a given set of values, the robot will start to cry, laugh, singor dance. In a sad mood, it will also extend the arms for being rocked and