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"Discovery Files" Features from the National Science Foundation
"Making Faces"
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READER SCRIPT
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"FACING" THE FUTURE... THE "DISCOVERY FILES": NEW ADVANCES IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING, FROM THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION. MEET "EINSTEIN": A ROBOTIC HEAD AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO, THAT'S A DEAD-RINGER FOR THE FATHER OF THE THEORY OF RELATIVITY. THIS ROBOTIC "EINSTEIN" IS LEARNING FACIAL-EXPRESSIONS--THAT IS, MACHINE-LEARNING: INSTEAD OF BEING PROGRAMMED TO MAKE ONLY CERTAIN SPECIFIC FACIAL-EXPRESSIONS, IT CAN CREATE NEW COMBINATIONS. DEVELOPMENTAL-PSYCHOLOGISTS BELIEVE THAT INFANTS LEARN SPEECH AND CONTROL OF BODY-MOVEMENTS THROUGH SYSTEMATIC EXPLORATION--ALMOST TRIAL-AND-ERROR. TO LEARN TO SPEAK, WE FIRST BABBLE; TO LEARN MOTION, WE TRY ALL KINDS OF CLUMSY MOVEMENTS. THE TEAM APPLIED THIS PRINCIPLE--CALLED "BODY BABBLING"--TO ROBOTICS. THE 30 FACIAL-"MUSCLES" THAT MAKE "EINSTEIN" SMILE, FROWN, OR LOOK SURPRISED ARE CONTROLLED BY STRINGS ATTACHED TO TINY SERVO-MOTORS. THE RESEARCHERS FIRST HAD "EINSTEIN" TWIST AND CONTORT HIS FACE EVERY WHICH WAY, WHILE "WATCHING" HIMSELF IN A MIRROR--AND RELAYING THAT INFORMATION TO FACIAL-RECOGNITION SOFTWARE; THIS MAPS THE CHANGES THAT ARE POSSIBLE--AND "TEACHES" THE ROBOT THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN MOTOR-MOVEMENTS AND FACIAL-EXPRESSIONS. IT COULD THEN CREATE NEW EXPRESSIONS THAT IT NEVER ENCOUNTERED--LIKE MOVING THE INNER-EYEBROWS TOGETHER, AND SLIGHTLY CLOSING THE EYELIDS. AIMED AT MAKING ROBOTIC FACIAL-EXPRESSIONS MORE REALISTIC, THE RESEARCH MAY ALSO TELL US MORE ABOUT HUMAN FACIAL-MOVEMENTS. THE "DISCOVERY FILES" COVERS PROJECTS FUNDED BY THE GOVERNMENT'S NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION: FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH BROUGHT TO YOU BY YOU! LEARN MORE AT "N-S-F"-DOT-GOV--OR ON THEIR PODCAST.
For additional "Discovery Files" features from the National Science Foundation, click here.
