A ubiquitous smart parenting and customized education service robot

Abstract

In this paper, we introduce a u-SPACE service robot, designed to help children who may be left alone while their caregivers are away from home. In order to protect children from indoor dangers, this service robot provides customized guiding messages taking into account the location information and behavioral patterns of a child, after the detection of dangerous objects and situations. And these guiding messages are vocalized by our emotional speech generation system. This emotional speech generation system is also being put to use in reading fairy tales to a child, as a part of a home education service. The outward appearance of the u-SPACE service robot is modeled on a teddy bear, in order to provide a safe and comforting environment for children. Two touch sensors designed for basic interactions between a child and the robot are installed on each hand of the robot, and an RFID tag is placed inside the body. A PDA with a Wi-Fi communication module, a touch screen, and a speaker is used as a main operating device of this u-SPACE service robot.