Here are two more ideas to add to the mix,

A simple mask with eyes and mouth. the example is eyes only but a servo and a sound /servo board could operate the mouth.

The second one is more complex. use a form with a display inside. the screen would show thru the form as a face or data.

Many craft stores carry these items

Ron R

There is also the old Disney technique of projecting a face onto a blank head. It's amazingly lifelike when done with a video. It could also be done with a blank mannequin head or mask (as shown in the previous posts) and a small video projector. Brookstone has a nice small one. The projector would be mounted just above the head and out in front somewhat. The video face image might have to be modified somewhat to make up for distortion caused by projecting at anything other than a straight projection to the face. The face and eye and lip movements would would be hosted on the workstation PC and synced to the words. Such a system would allow for different faces at each position as well as non-hardware modifications when making changes to the face. Each user can have a face of their choosing. The only significant hardware cost would be the projector and mount. Not sure how it would work out in a fully lit room, but the mount would provide some shading for the head.

Thanks Ron and WBS! Some good ideas to look at there.

Here's more: look at how they get Robothespian to "talk" without moving the jaw . . .

Robo Thespian

No so many servos!

Ron

I was told a Scary Terry board with some linkage on one servo will do what we saw on the video. The mouth servo will follow the speech played. No scripting needed. Pull the audio off the EZB or audio source to the driver board. Someone, I think it was Dave Cochran, just did a thread on it not too long ago. The next version of my robot will have that type of system on it.

Ron R

I didn't see anything concerning Robothespian talking without moving it's jaw. But I did see the Socibot doing that via projection. Looking at some videos showing the Socibot in action. It appears they use rear projection, eliminating the problems with front projection. The projector(s) might be in the body with the image(s) sent to the face via a front surface 45 degree mirror. Though there could be a problem keeping the image in place as the head moves, requiring the mirror to move to compensate. Placing the projector in the head would be a problem due to space. Perhaps a mirror system there could help as well, allowing the projector to be placed vertically in the lower part of the head, again using mirrors to bounce the image to the face. That would give a longer optical path as well so as to make the image larger in a small space.

A ready to go unit is only about $14, 780. Of course it has all sorts of bells and whistles and price markups. Should be able to make something like it much cheaper. Using an EZB4 it can still have facial recognition and tracking. Though I would suppose the user would not be moving about while seated at the station.

Those things should not be called robots. They are actually animatronic devices. A robot would have it's own power source and be able to move about on it's own. The Robothespian likely can't even stand on it's own, let alone walk. If it were a true robot, one would expect that it could do both. With these, an air compressor (or an air tank) would have to somehow be on board to boot. Backpack maybe. Looks like the actuators for the air servos and cylinders, at least, are on the figure itself, but I'm not sure.

@ MathProf
Is your final project still just the head and shoulders for interaction?

If so, I assume you want a camera installed to allow tracking eyes and maybe the head and neck movement, a moveable jaw for speech, and maybe eyebrows or some other expressive device. This is can be done as you have seen with "Alan".

Or your other option being a projected unit such as a flat screen interaction or a projection within a head (the Disney concept). This "Smoke and mirrors" (LOL) in my opinion becomes to difficult and expensive to build and program.

My opinion would be to build a simple face or head and see how it would work. I tends to build rough versions for proof of concept then build the real thing. Maybe a foam head or mask from a craft store with an EZB and some servos will give you a good easy start. Tape and hot glue rules for the build.

Just an opinion from another Ron,