Furhat

A social robot that communicates with humans via speach, listening, showing emotions and making & maintaining eye contact. The face-swapping robot is designed to adopt multiple personalities which are already pre-built and can be further customized to fit any character. The robot achieves this human-like status by using a back-projected facial animation system, including a head-shaped display which features an opaque mask onto which pretty lifelike looking faces can be projected.

Furhat Robotics

Specifications

Height410 mm
Width270 mm
Depth220 mm
Weight3.5 kg
Power Input12 V, 90W
ComputerIntel Core i5 7260U, 64-bit
Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640
8 GB RAM
120 GB SSD
PortsIntel Wireless-AC 8265
Integrated LAN
2 USB A
1 USB-C
3.5 mm Headphone Jack
Inputs180 mm wide stereo microphone
1080 p RGB 135° diagonal FOV Camera
13.56 MHz (Mifare) RFID Reader
Rotary wheel with click function
OutputsIlluminated swappable mask system
Custom-tuned, 2.5" hi-fidelity stereo speakers
Custom 160° wide angle projection system,
WVGA resolution, RGB LED, 100 lumen
360 ° RGB LED ring, 144/meter density

Overview

The robot achieves this human-like status by using a back-projected facial animation system, including a head-shaped display which features an opaque mask onto which pretty lifelike looking faces can be projected. The mask can be changed depending on its use, which allows the bust to take on different personalities. 

The robot uses three degrees of freedom which allows it to direct attention to different objects and individuals. A wide-angle, high fidelity camera and beamforming stereo microphones allow it to interact with its audience. Two hi-fi 2.5″ speakers allows virtual speech direction. The robot can record the users voice and have the device lip sync automatically. 

The operating system in the robot manages its interactions by leveraging a conversational engine based on an advanced computational model of hierarchical state machines. This gives the robot the ability to handle very expressive and low-latency interactions. This helps the robot know when it’s being spoken to and when it has to listen.

References

Describes what you can develop with the Furhat SDK.

https://www.furhatrobotics.com

Wevolver 2023