Humanoid robot presentation controlled by multimodal presentation markup language MPML

Abstract

We have developed a multimodal presentation markup language, called MPML. In our previous studies, we have succeeded to make attractive multimodal presentation with animated virtual characters easily. Then we have combined the MPML with a two-legged humanoid robot, instead of the animated character on 2D screen. It enables an end-user to control freely the humanoid robot presenter for his/her own Web-based multimodal presentation. The humanoid robot introduces the multimedia contents with a voice pointing at a screen using a laser pointer. A single MPML program can generate both animated character presentation on 2D screen and humanoid robot presentation in 3D space. We also show empirically how controllable and expressive the presentation is by means of the humanoid robot.