PROJECT TOPIC for CMPE 491/492

NAO Robot Avatar

In this project, we will implement asystem that enables seeing from NAO'seyes and moving with NAO's body.NAO's motions will be copied throughutilizing an adapted whole-body trackingsystem, and the robot camera imageswill be displayed on a head-mountdisplay system. This system will enable fullembodiment, and will be used for a very fruitfulresearch direction: Utilizing robot avatars tounderstand the underlying mechanisms of humansensorimotor processes through changing differentaspects of the embodiment.

1st semester: Implement the system. Trackwhole body with Kinect and detect actions.Imitate human actions such as reaching andwalking with iCub. Display robot's camera viewon a head-mount display.

2nd semester: Analyze how body-schemarepresentation in human body changes usingpsychophysical experiments. Humans are goodin predicting whether objects are reachable,gaps are pass-through-able, etc. We willanalyze whether/how these predictions adapt after exposure to NAO's sensorimotor system.

Contact: emre.ugur@boun.edu.tr