Disney Research is always up to some weird stuff when it comes to robotics and animatronics. Here, they show off their work on a humanoid animatronic bust that comes equipped with what they call “realistic and interactive robot gaze.”
“We present a general architecture that seeks not only to create gaze interactions from a technological standpoint, but also through the lens of character animation where the fidelity and believability of motion is paramount; that is we seek to create an interaction which demonstrates the illusion of life.”
The bot looks a bit like an angry zombie, and perhaps dips its artificial toes into the uncanny valley thanks to its lifelike teeth, but the effect is pretty realistic. It mimics breathing and blinking, as well as saccades (quick eye movements). The robot also reacts to sound.
You can check out their full paper right over here.
