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Comparative Analysis of the Shrug

Mechanisms for Humanoid Robots


Marko Peni, Member, IEEE, Maja avi,
Sran Savi Member, IEEE and Branislav Borovac, Member, IEEE

AbstractExists two basic ways in which emotions of the ro- to express their emotions and to communicate with humans in
bot can be expressed. The first is based on the facial expressions a simple and intuitive way [1]. Emotions are a significant
that are achieved by moving specific part of the face (eyebrows, means of communication witch transfer a large number of
eyes, eyelids etc.) or by using LEDs (create eyebrows and lips on information in a short time [2]. Even 55% of communication
the screen that shows the face) or combining these two ways. The between people consist of nonverbal communication, 38%
second is based on gestures, mainly arms and neck (head). In refers to the intonation - paraverbal communication, and only
addition to an assortment of gestures we suggest a shrug mecha-
7% on the content of the message - verbal communication [3].
nism. This paper presents a comparative analysis of mechanism
for robots shrug as a form of nonverbal communication. The Paraverbal and nonverbal massages sent clear signals regard-
research was conducted within the project which is developing a less of the meaning of spoken words. Today, researchers are
social robot Sara. Based on the set requirements two solutions working intensively on improving the interactive elements of
have been proposed and are both lever mechanisms. The first the robot [4].
consists of four links and requires small space for incorporation This paper presents a comparative analysis of mechanisms
and the second has six links, higher transmission ratio, higher for robots shrug as a form of nonverbal communication. The
efficiency but requires more space for incorporation. Both mech- research was conducted within the project which is develop-
anisms have per 1 DOF and enable simultaneous shrug. Basic ing socially acceptable robot that should represent an anthro-
requirements for the highest speed possible of shoulder move-
pomorphic mobile platform to explore the social behavior of
ments (at large stroke length endpoints shoulders for a small
stroke length of input link) is opposite to the request for a small the robot. Robot will be able to communicate verbally and
driving force on the input link, and the final solution requires nonverbally. To express facial expressions biologically in-
further optimization. spired eyes are predicted with eyelids and eyelashes. To ex-
tend the range of nonverbal communication it is predicted that
Index Termscomparative analysis / shrug mechanism / non- the robot can shrug when the answer is confusing or the robot
verbal communication / body language / humanoid robot does not know what to answer. In addition, it is predicted that
the robot have two anthropomorphic arms with 7 DOFs per
arm, self-locking neck with 3 DOFs and self-locking multi-
I. INTRODUCTION segment lumbar structure based on human-like spine with 7
Most social robots that are predicted to work in a human DOFs [5] in order to increase mobility (so that robot can
environment do not have a developed awareness or the ability move the trunk without moving the pelvis).
to adapt to the environment in which they are situated. In the
near future of humanoid robots are expected to work actively II. STATE OF THE ART
in the immediate human environment, that is dynamic and There are a few robots that are able to intuitively express
unstructured, and to perform numerous and complex tasks. emotions. In [6] is shown a social robot Kismet with audio-
Such robots must be absolutely safe for the humans and ob- visual system that is predicted for immediate interaction with
jects from the environment. For successful operation of robots humans - face to face. Kismet is an expressive robot head that
in everyday human environment, interaction between humans is able to express emotions: happy, surprise, calm, interest,
and robots is essential, therefore from the robots is expected sad, angry, disgust. Facial expressions are created by moving
the ears, eyebrows, eyes, eyelids, lips, chin and head. The
robot head is 1.5 times larger than the head of an adult. Kis-
Marko Peni is with the Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of met has a neck with 3 DOFs and a total of 21 DOFs. In [7] is
Novi Sad, Trg Dositeja Obradovia 6, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia (e-mail:
mpencic@ uns.ac.rs). shown a robot Nexi, an advanced version of Kismet, known as
Maja avi is with the Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Novi MDS (mobile, dexterous, social) robot. Nexi is dynamically
Sad, Trg Dositeja Obradovia 6, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia (e-mail: scomaja@ balanced mobile platform with two wheels, like a Segway
uns.ac.rs). with rich expressive abilities. When communicating with hu-
Sran Savi is with the Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Novi
Sad, Trg Dositeja Obradovia 6, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia (e-mail: savics@ mans, Nexi is actively using arms and is able to demonstrate
uns.ac.rs). 16 different facial expressions such as happiness, sadness,
Branislav Borovac is with the Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of anger, confusion, curiosity, excitement, etc. Facial expres-
Novi Sad, Trg Dositeja Obradovia 6, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia (e-mail: bo- sions are created by moving the eyebrows, eyes, eyelids, head
rovac@ uns.ac.rs).
and jaw. Nexi has a neck with 4 DOFs, and the height of the Basic requirements that a shrug mechanism needs to fulfill
robot is about 1.2 m. In [8] is shown the humanoid robot iCub are high movement speed of the shoulders (at a large stroke
which presents an open source robot platform for research in length endpoint of shoulders for a small stroke length of the
embodied cognition. iCub is able to demonstrate 20 facial input link), small driving force of the input link, high efficien-
expressions by combining LEDs (19 LEDs for the mouth and cy, low weight and small dimensions.
4 sets of 5 LEDs for the eyebrows) and moving the eyes, eye- The toothed and lever mechanisms were considered.
lids and head. Facial expressions are classified into four cate- Toothed mechanisms (helical gears and worm gears), which
gories: positive-intensive (astonishment, delightedness, glad- in size and power are corresponding to shrug mechanism have
ness, happiness and pleased), negative-intensive (alarmed, significantly larger weight compared with the lever mecha-
afraid, tensed, angry and annoyed), positive-non intensive nisms and require precise manufacturing and assemble. Dur-
(satisfied, content, serene, calm and relaxed) and negative-non ing meshed gears it is necessary to provide small backlash that
intensive (miserable, depressed, sad, gloomy and bored). iCub enable high positioning accuracy and repeatability of move-
has a neck with 3 DOFs and the height of the robot is about 1 ment which is essential for controlling the movement. Lever
m. In [9] is shown expressive robot Albert Hubo that presents mechanisms are simple and less demanding in terms of manu-
a biped walking humanoid robot with an android head who facture and assembly of the gear mechanism, therefore only
reminds of Albert Einstein. The face of a robot is made of those are further analyzed.
"frubber (a contraction of "flesh" and "rubber") which allows
wrinkle, stretch, and amass much more realistically than typi-
cal animatronic materials. Facial movements have been
achieved with 28 servo motors. The robot is able to mimic
human facial expressions such as surprise, disgust, laugh, an-
ger, and sadness. Albert Hubo has a neck with 3 DOFs and the
height of the robot is about 1.35 m. In [10] is shown biologi-
cally inspired humanoid robot WE-4RII that represents an-
thropomimetic platform for expressing human-like emotions.
The robot expresses emotions with upper body that includes
facial expressions and gestures. It is able to express neutral,
disgust, fear, sadness, happiness, surprise, anger etc. Facial
expressions are created by moving the eyebrows, eyes, eye-
lids, lips, jaw, head and light effects (for cheeks). Robot has a
lung with 1 DOF and sensors of smell. Body language is
achieved by shrugging and moving the arms, hands, waist and
neck. Shrug mechanism has 2 DOFs per arm and enables Fig. 1. Kinematic scheme of four-bar mechanism A
shrug and shoulders rotation (roll and yaw rotations). WE-
4RII has a neck with 4 DOFs and the height of the robot is
about 1 m. In [11] and [12] are shown the advanced version of
the robot WE-4RII bipedal walking robot Kobian and mo-
bile anthropomorphic platform Habian. Besides to humanoid
robots today, robots that mimic humans in appearance and
behavior androids and gynoids [13] are becoming increas-
ingly popular.

III. COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS


Lumbar structure provides stability and body posture in an
upright position, transmits load from the upper limbs to the
waist and allows movements of the head, neck and torso of
the robot. Shrug mechanism connects to the lumbar structure
and on him arms, neck and head. Thoracic (chest) section is
meant to accommodate shrug mechanism. Therefore, it is im-
portant that a shrug mechanism has the lowest mass and di-
mensions, and on the other hand, it must be functional and Fig. 2. Kinematic scheme of six-bar mechanism B
reliable. Shrug is a relatively fast movement and therefore the
shrug speed must be as large as possible. The force generated Based on the set requirements two lever mechanisms are
by the actuator to the input link must be significantly smaller suggested for shrug. The first (Fig. 1) consists of 4 links and
than the force of the workload (arm weight) which is achieved requires small space for incorporation and the second (Fig. 2)
by the principle of reduction. has 6 links, higher transmission ratio but requires more space
for incorporation. Both mechanisms have per 1 DOF and ena-
ble simultaneous shrug. Since both of the mechanisms are OA sin 90 AB sin 0 BC sin 3 yD DC sin 4 (12)
symmetrical only one-half is analyzed.
By analyzing the mechanisms A and B determines the
length of the stroke endpoint of the shoulder (the vertical xD DE cos 4 180 EF cos 5 xG DC cos 6 (13)
stroke point M), angle of pressure and driving force FIN of
the input link 2. The dimensions of the mechanism links are yD DE sin 4 180 EF sin 5 yG DC sin 6 (14)
considered known. Kinematic parameters of the position are
angles 3 , 4 for links 3,4 (mechanism A) and angles Solving eq. (11) (14) are obtained eqs. for the angle links
3 , 4 , 5 , 6 for links 3,4,5,6 (mechanism B). An input link is 3,4,5,6:
2 for both mechanisms and the operating links are 4, for the 3 arctan a arccos b (15)
mechanism A and 6 for the mechanism B. During kinematical
analysis contours closed vector method was used. Let us con- 4 arctan c (16)
sider first the four-bar mechanism on Fig. 1. For this mecha-
nism vector contour is formed: 5 arctan d arccos e (17)

OA AB BC OD DC (1)
6 arctan f (18)
where:
Breaking down eq. (1) on components given by:
yG b1
d (19)
OA cos 90 AB cos 0 BC cos 3 xD DC cos 4 (2) xG a1

2 2 2 2
OA sin 90 AB sin 0 BC sin 3 yD DC sin 4 (3)
e
2
EF a1 xG b1 yG GF
(20)
2 2

Solving eq. (2) and (3) obtained eqs. for the angle links 3,4:
2 EF a1 xG b1 yG

3 arctan a arccos b (4) b1 EF sin 5 yG


f (21)
a1 EF cos 5 xG
4 arctan c (5)
where: a1 xD DE cos 4 180 (22)
yD y A
a (6)
xD AB
b1 yD DE sin 4 180 (23)
2

b
2

BC xD AB
2
yD y A
2
DC 2

(7)
The vertical stroke point M is a difference y-coordinate po-
sition of the point M at the beginning and the end of the
2
2 BC x D AB yD y A
2 movement. The angles of the operating links at the beginning
of the movement are 4 0 and 6 0 , and so the length of
stroke point M at a shrug gets:
y A BC sin 3 yD
c (8)
AB BC cos 3 xD mechanism A:

For a six-bar mechanism on Fig. 2, two vector contours are hM yM end yM start DM sin 4 (24)
formed. The first contours describes the basic (links 1,2,3,4)
and second the additional mechanism (dyad 5,6): mechanism B:

OA AB BC OD DC (9) hM yM end yM start GM sin 6 (25)

OD DE EF OG GF (10) Comparing equations (24) and (25) we conclude that the
length of the shrunk depends only on the final angle of the
Breaking down eq. 6 and 7 on components given by:
output link 4 respectively 6 in case that DM GM .

OA cos 90 AB cos 0 BC cos 3 xD DC cos 4 (11)


The angle of pressure represents the dynamic efficiency DE GM
of the mechanisms and is determined as the difference of the FIN FOUT k2 (33)
DC GF
kinematical parameters:
for the shrug the driving force is:
mechanism A:
3 4 55 (26)
DE GM
mechanism B: FIN (TOTAL ) 2 FOUT k2 (34)
5 6 55 DC GF
(27)
where:
sin 3 cos 6 sin 4 5
With increasing pressure angle most of the power is used for k2 (35)
overcoming workload, and lesser for internal loads, so the sin 3 4 sin 5 6
mechanism is more efficient. Four-bar mechanism has limited
use, because the structure of the mechanism is such that the When the pressure angles of the mechanisms A and B are
pressure angle decreases when lifting the shoulders. To the high enough (above 60), comparing the equations (30) and
six-bar mechanism with an advantageous choice of design (33) we conclude that the driving forces depend only on the
parameters high value of pressure angle can be achieved. length of the rods, because then k1 respectively k2 are close
Based on the dynamic analysis the driving forces of mech- to one. For a mechanism A is needed larger driving power,
anisms are determined. By applying the d'Alembert's principle
kinetostatic equations are formed: because DM DC . For the mechanism B, an advantageous
choice of the length of the rods and the positions of point links

DE GM
F i 0 (28) D and G, can be achieved that the 1 , which signif-
DC GF
icantly reduces the driving force. Basic requirements for the
M S ,i 0 i (29)
highest speed possible of shoulders movement (at large stroke
length endpoints shoulders for a small stroke length of input
where: Si - an arbitrary point i-th link. Eqs. (28) and (29) con- link) is opposite to the request for a small driving force on the
tain the workload on the i-th link, inertial and gravitational input link, and the final solution must be a compromise of
forces of the i-th link, the forces of friction (dry and viscous) these two requirements.
and reactions linkage of the i-th link with other links of the
mechanism. With regard to the relatively small mass of the IV. CONCLUSION
links of the mechanisms, inertial, gravitational and frictional In paper is presented comparative analysis of mechanism
forces are neglected in comparison to the workload (arm for robots shrug as a form of nonverbal communication. The
weight). research was conducted within the project which is develop-
Decomposition of the mechanisms for each link kinetostati- ing a social robot Sara. Based on the set requirements two
cal equations are formed. For the mechanism A is obtained a solutions have been proposed and are both lever mechanisms.
system of 9 linear equations with 9 unknown. With their solu- The first consists of four links and requires small space for
tion component reaction in joint links is obtained and the driv- incorporation and the second has six links, higher transmis-
ing force for the mechanism A is determined by: sion ratio but requires more space for incorporation. Both
mechanisms have per 1 DOF and enable simultaneous shrug.
DM The first mechanism, have limited use because during a shrug
FIN FOUT k1 (30)
DC the pressure angle significantly decreases. The second mecha-
nism with an advantageous choice of the geometric parame-
for the shrug the driving force is: ters can have high values of pressure angle during whole
movement and thereby high efficiency. The driving force de-
pend from the length of the rods when the pressure angles are
DM high enough. With an advantageous choice of the geometric
FIN (TOTAL ) 2 FOUT k1 (31)
DC parameters the driving force can be significantly smaller.
where: Basic requirements for the highest speed possible of shoulders
sin 3 cos 4 movement (at large stroke length endpoints shoulders for a
k1 (32)
sin 3 4 small stroke length of input link) is opposite to the request for
a smaller possible driving force on the input link and the final
solution must be a compromise of these two requirements
For the mechanism B is obtained a system of 15 linear
which will be examined with further optimization.
equations with 15 unknown. With their solution component
reaction in joint links is obtained, and the driving force for the
mechanism B is determined by:
ACKNOWLEDGMENT [7] W.B. Knox, P. Stone, C. Breazeal: Training a Robot via Human Feed-
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This work was funded by the Ministry of education and Robotics, Bristol, UK, pp. 460470, Oct. 2729, 2013.
science of the Republic of Serbia under contract III44008 and [8] A.L. Pais, B.D. Argall, A.G.Billard, Assessing Interaction Dynamics in
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