Development of a new human-like head robot WE-4

The authors have been developing human-like head robots in order to develop new head mechanisms and functions for a humanoid robot that has the ability to communicate naturally with a human by expressing human-like emotion. We were able to simulate four sensations (the visual, auditory, cutaneous and olfactory sensations) of a human five senses by developing WE-3 (W_aseda E_ye No.3_) series since 1995. However, the robot system of WE-3 has become too complex and big from added improvements. Therefore, in 2002, we developed a new human-like head robot WE-4 (W_aseda E_ye No. 4_). We newly added a waist to WE-4, and realized emotional expression with not only the face, but also the upper-half part of the robot body. Also, WE-4 is smaller and lighter from revisions in mechanisms of the robot head In this paper we describe the mechanical features of the human-like head robot WE-4.