Robot Sings and Records Your Reaction

As robots and humans continue to develop a working relationship, we need to be comfortable with our circuit-based companions. One might think that making them as lifelike as possible would be best, but as they appear more and more human, they somehow become creepy to us, a phenomenon known as the “uncanny valley.”

On the other hand, robots that exhibit human-like emotions, but look nothing like us are endearing, perhaps appearing to us as a pet of sorts. Taking things up a notch, if they express their emotions through beeps and chirps like Star Wars’ R2-D2, we seem to enjoy that even more. To test out what sounds elicit a positive response from people, UC Santa Barbara researcher Hannah Wolfe has designed ROVER, a singing robot.

ROVER uses a heat sensor to detect humans that come into its domain, then moves closer, stops, and sings, recording responses to the music with a camera. It takes the form of a tall white robotic skeleton with a iRobot Create base to travel about. An Arduino Uno acts as its nervous system, while a Raspberry Pi captures video and processes sound.

You can see ROVER in action below; the robo-tones are quite pleasing!