ArXiv

Articulated Humanoid Head for a Robot Receptionist Capable of Natural Human Interaction

2026-07-19 · 03:18 UTC ·Tharusha Fonseka, Charuka Bandara, Moshintha Hewavitharana... ·1 min read
Authors
Tharusha Fonseka, Charuka Bandara, Moshintha Hewavitharana...
Categories
cs.RO, cs.CV, eess.IV
arXiv
https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.17042v1
PDF
https://arxiv.org/pdf/2607.17042v1

Brief

The paper presents a 21-DoF articulated humanoid robot head for receptionist roles, combining silicone-skin mechanics (mouth, eyes, eyebrows, neck) with a model-based perception and language stack (SCRFD/ArcFace/ByTetrack for vision; Llama and Whisper for NLP). The system runs in real time, supports human re-identification, reports quantitative conversational and re-ID measures, and achieved a 4.13/5 average human-likeness in a user study; accepted at AIM2026 (arXiv:2607.17042v1).

Why it matters

Designed an articulated humanoid receptionist head with 21 degrees of freedom (DoF) covering mouth, eyes, eyebrows, and neck, finished with realistic silicone skin to improve expressiveness.

Key details

  • System integrates SCRFD, ArcFace, and ByTetrack for vision (detection/recognition/tracking) and Llama plus Whisper for NLP, with hardware enabling real-time conversational ability and human re-identification; conversational and re-ID performance were quantified.
  • User study reported an average human-likeness score of 4.13/5; paper accepted to IEEE/ASME AIM2026 and posted on arXiv (2607.17042v1) on 2026-07-19.
Source evidence

Abstract

Humanoid robots have become increasingly popular in applications such as social interaction, education, and service roles, which drives the need for more natural and efficient human-robot interactions. However, currently available humanoid heads often face limitations, including high costs, mechanical complexity, and limited adaptability across diverse environments. To address these challenges, we present an articulated humanoid robot head designed for a receptionist role, integrating a mechanical structure with 21 degrees of freedom (DoF), including mechanisms for the mouth, eyes, eyebrows, and neck, and covered with realistic silicone skin to achieve a human-like appearance and expression. The system integrates a model-based architecture that combines SCRFD, ArcFace, and ByTetrack for face recognition and Llama and Whisper for natural language processing, with hardware support enabling real-time operations and human re-identification. The conversational ability and re-identification capabilities of the humanoid robot head were quantitatively measured, while its emotional expressiveness and human likeness were evaluated through a user study, achieving an average human likeness score of 4.13 out of 5.

Comment: This work is accepted at IEEE/ASME International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics (AIM2026)
Journal: IEEE/ASME International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics (AIM2026)