A real-time synchronization algorithm between Text-To-Speech (TTS) system and Robot Mouth for Social Robotic Applications

Felipe Cid; Ramon Cintas; Luis J. Manso; Luis V. Calderita; Agustin Sanchez; Pedro Nunez

A real-time synchronization algorithm between Text-To-Speech (TTS) system and Robot Mouth for Social Robotic Applications

Felipe Cid, Ramon Cintas, Luis J. Manso, Luis V. Calderita, Agustin Sanchez, Pedro Nunez

College of Engineering and Physical Sciences

Research output: Chapter in Book/Published conference output › Conference publication

Abstract

Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) is one of the most important subfields of social robotics. In several applications, text-to-speech techniques are used by robots to provide feedback to humans. In this respect, a natural synchronization between the synthetic voice and the mouth of the robot could contribute to improving the interaction experience. This paper presents an algorithm for synchronizing Text-To-Speech (TTS) systems with robotic mouths. The proposed approach estimates the appropriate aperture of the mouth based on the entropy of the synthetic audio stream provided by the TTS system. The paper also describes the cost-efficient robotic mouth which has been used in the experiments. The system, which has been implemented in C++ and can perform in real-time, is freely available as part of the RoboComp open-source robotics framework. Finally, the paper presents the results of the opinion poll that has been conducted in order to evaluate the overall user experience.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Proc. of Workshop of Physical Agents
Pages	81-86
Publication status	Published - 2011

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@inproceedings{c0c16007d018491a9771f5f7010811a4,

title = "A real-time synchronization algorithm between Text-To-Speech (TTS) system and Robot Mouth for Social Robotic Applications",

abstract = "Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) is one of the most important subfields of social robotics. In several applications, text-to-speech techniques are used by robots to provide feedback to humans. In this respect, a natural synchronization between the synthetic voice and the mouth of the robot could contribute to improving the interaction experience. This paper presents an algorithm for synchronizing Text-To-Speech (TTS) systems with robotic mouths. The proposed approach estimates the appropriate aperture of the mouth based on the entropy of the synthetic audio stream provided by the TTS system. The paper also describes the cost-efficient robotic mouth which has been used in the experiments. The system, which has been implemented in C++ and can perform in real-time, is freely available as part of the RoboComp open-source robotics framework. Finally, the paper presents the results of the opinion poll that has been conducted in order to evaluate the overall user experience.",

author = "Felipe Cid and Ramon Cintas and Manso, {Luis J.} and Calderita, {Luis V.} and Agustin Sanchez and Pedro Nunez",

year = "2011",

language = "English",

pages = "81--86",

booktitle = "Proc. of Workshop of Physical Agents",

}

TY - GEN

T1 - A real-time synchronization algorithm between Text-To-Speech (TTS) system and Robot Mouth for Social Robotic Applications

AU - Cid, Felipe

AU - Cintas, Ramon

AU - Manso, Luis J.

AU - Calderita, Luis V.

AU - Sanchez, Agustin

AU - Nunez, Pedro

PY - 2011

Y1 - 2011

N2 - Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) is one of the most important subfields of social robotics. In several applications, text-to-speech techniques are used by robots to provide feedback to humans. In this respect, a natural synchronization between the synthetic voice and the mouth of the robot could contribute to improving the interaction experience. This paper presents an algorithm for synchronizing Text-To-Speech (TTS) systems with robotic mouths. The proposed approach estimates the appropriate aperture of the mouth based on the entropy of the synthetic audio stream provided by the TTS system. The paper also describes the cost-efficient robotic mouth which has been used in the experiments. The system, which has been implemented in C++ and can perform in real-time, is freely available as part of the RoboComp open-source robotics framework. Finally, the paper presents the results of the opinion poll that has been conducted in order to evaluate the overall user experience.

AB - Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) is one of the most important subfields of social robotics. In several applications, text-to-speech techniques are used by robots to provide feedback to humans. In this respect, a natural synchronization between the synthetic voice and the mouth of the robot could contribute to improving the interaction experience. This paper presents an algorithm for synchronizing Text-To-Speech (TTS) systems with robotic mouths. The proposed approach estimates the appropriate aperture of the mouth based on the entropy of the synthetic audio stream provided by the TTS system. The paper also describes the cost-efficient robotic mouth which has been used in the experiments. The system, which has been implemented in C++ and can perform in real-time, is freely available as part of the RoboComp open-source robotics framework. Finally, the paper presents the results of the opinion poll that has been conducted in order to evaluate the overall user experience.

M3 - Conference publication

SP - 81

EP - 86

BT - Proc. of Workshop of Physical Agents

ER -

A real-time synchronization algorithm between Text-To-Speech (TTS) system and Robot Mouth for Social Robotic Applications

Abstract

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