WO2001057852A1 - Robot hearing system - Google Patents

Abstract

A hearing system (10) of a robot, especially the one of human or animal type, capable of collecting sound from an external target and actively hearing it without being influenced by the noise produced by, e.g. a drive mechanism in the robot. The system comprises a pair of external microphones (16) provided at the ear parts outside the sound-insulating shell (13), a pair of internal microphones (17) for collecting noise provided inside the shell, noise removers (23, 24) for removing noise signals from an inside noise source from the acoustic signals from the external microphones, pitch extracting sections (25, 26) for extracting acoustic data (DL, DR) about the time, frequency and power from the left and right acoustic signals from the noise removers by frequency analysis, a left/right channel relating section (27) for determining the direction from which sound comes on the basis of the harmonic structure involving the pitches of the left/right acoustic data extracted by the pitch extracting section, and a sound source separating section (28) for separating acoustic data into acoustic data sets of respective sound sources according to the information on the sound direction determination.

Description

 Description Robot Auditory system Technical field

 The present invention relates to a hearing system in a robot, particularly in a humanoid or animal robot. Background art

 In recent years, attention has been paid to active perception of sight and hearing in such humanoid or animal-like robots.

 Active perception is a system that supports a sensory device that is in charge of perception such as robot vision and robot hearing so that it follows the target to be perceived. is there.

 Here, regarding active vision, the optical axis direction of the camera is held toward the target by at least the attitude control by the camera power drive mechanism, which is a perception device, and the target is automatically focused on, for example, focusing, zooming, zooming, etc. Is performed, so that the camera captures the target. Various studies have been conducted on such active vision.

 On the other hand, with regard to active hearing, at least the microphone, which is a sensory device, maintains its directivity toward the target by controlling the attitude of the drive mechanism, and the microphone collects sound from the target. At this time, the disadvantage of active hearing is that the microphone picks up the operating sound of the drive mechanism while the drive mechanism is operating, so that relatively loud noise is mixed in with the sound from the target. It may not be possible to recognize the sound from the sound.

 However, in auditory research with the drive mechanism stopped, it was difficult to perform so-called active hearing while following the movement of the target, especially when the target is moving.

Furthermore, not only the above-mentioned drive mechanism, but also various operation sounds generated inside the robot Similarly, it is also difficult to obtain perfect active hearing, because microphones as hearing devices also collect noise that is constantly generated.

 An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks in the conventional technology, and to collect sound from an external target without being affected by noise generated inside the robot such as a driving mechanism, and to actively control the sound. It is an object of the present invention to provide an auditory system for a robot capable of performing perception, particularly a humanoid or animal robot. Disclosure of the invention

 In order to achieve this object, a robot hearing system according to the present invention includes a soundproof exterior covering at least a part of the robot, and a robot provided with a noise source inside, and provided outside the exterior. At least one pair of external microphones that mainly collect external sound, at least one pair of internal microphones that are provided inside the exterior and mainly collect noise from internal noise sources, and the external microphone and the internal microphone. Noise canceling unit that cancels the noise signal from the internal noise source from the audio signal from the external microphone based on the left and right signals from the microphone, respectively, and the frequency from the left and right audio signals from the noise removing unit. A pitch extraction unit that performs analysis to extract acoustic data and pitch information relating to time, frequency, and power; A left and right channel corresponding section for directing sound from a harmonic structure with a pitch indicated by the sound data based on the left and right sound data and pitch information extracted by the left and right channel sections; And a sound source separation unit that separates the sound data into sound data for each sound source based on the sound direction information.

In order to achieve the above object, a human- or animal-type robot auditory system according to the present invention provides a human- or animal-type robot having a noise generating source such as a drive mechanism therein, at least a robot head. A soundproof exterior covering the outside, at least one pair of external microphones provided at both ear positions corresponding to both ears outside the exterior and mainly collecting external sounds, and mainly provided inside the exterior. At least a pair of internal microphones that collect noise from an internal noise source; and an internal microphone based on signals from the external microphone and the internal microphone based on signals from the external microphone and the internal microphone. A noise removing unit for canceling a noise signal from a noise generating source; a pitch extracting unit for performing frequency analysis on left and right acoustic signals from the noise removing unit to extract acoustic data and pitch information relating to time, frequency and power. A left / right channel corresponding unit for directing a sound from a harmonic structure with a pitch of the sound data based on the left / right sound data pitch information extracted by the pitch extracting unit; And a sound source separation unit that separates the sound data into sound data for each sound source based on the sound orientation information extracted by the sound source.

 According to the above configuration, the external microphone mainly collects sound from an external target, and the internal microphone mainly collects noise from a noise generating source such as a drive mechanism inside the robot. At that time, the noise signal from the noise source inside the robot is mixed in the acoustic signal collected by the external microphone, and this mixed noise signal is collected by the internal microphone by arithmetic processing in the noise removal unit. It is significantly reduced by being canceled by the noise signal.

 Then, from the acoustic signal from which the noise has been canceled, the acoustic signal is extracted by frequency analysis by the pitch extraction unit, and the sound direction is determined from the acoustic signal by the left and right channel corresponding units. Then, the sound source is separated into sound data for each sound source by a sound source separation unit.

 Therefore, the noise reduction from the noise source such as the drive mechanism inside the robot is easily and significantly reduced by the arithmetic processing in the noise elimination section, and the S / N ratio of the acoustic signal from the external microphone is greatly improved. Therefore, the sound data can be more properly separated for each sound source.

 In the robot hearing system according to the present invention, preferably, the robot further includes a perception system such as visual and tactile sensation, and the left and right channel corresponding units refer to information from these perception systems to determine the direction of sound. Do.

 According to this configuration, for example, the left and right channel corresponding sections can perform clearer orientation based on visual information on a target from the visual device.

In the robot auditory system according to the present invention, preferably, the left and right channel corresponding sections output information relating to the direction of sound to the sensory system. According to this configuration, for example, the information on the orientation of the target by hearing is output to the visual device, so that the visual device can perform more accurate orientation.

 Furthermore, the robot hearing system according to the present invention is preferably characterized in that the internal microphone is disposed inside the exterior so as to be movable at least in a lateral direction.

 According to this configuration, the internal microphones are moved in the horizontal direction, the front-rear direction, and / or the vertical direction so as to more appropriately collect noise from a noise source inside the robot, and are paired with each internal microphone. The distance to the corresponding external microphone can be appropriately adjusted, and the noise can be canceled in the most optimal state from the acoustic signal collected by the external microphone.

 In the robot hearing system according to the present invention, preferably, the internal microphone is slidably supported by a support member extending in a lateral direction inside the exterior.

 In the robot hearing system according to the present invention, preferably, the support member includes a slot extending in a lateral direction, and the internal microphone is fixed to a movable member slidably supported along the slot of the support member. Have been.

 In the robot hearing system according to the present invention, preferably, the movable member is screwed to the support member by a fixing screw inserted into the slot.

 In the robot hearing system according to the present invention, preferably, the internal microphone is further disposed so as to be movable in the front-rear direction.

 In the robot hearing system according to the present invention, preferably, the internal microphone is slidably supported on a first support member extending in the lateral direction inside the exterior, and the first support member is provided on the exterior. It is supported slidably with respect to a second support member extending in the front-rear direction on the inside.

 In the robot hearing system according to the present invention, preferably, the internal microphone is further disposed so as to be vertically movable. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

The present invention is based on the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings, which illustrate embodiments of the present invention. It will be better understood. The embodiments shown in the attached drawings are not intended to specify the present invention, but merely to facilitate explanation and understanding.

 In the figure,

 FIG. 1 is a front view showing the appearance of a humanoid mouthboat incorporating the first embodiment of the robot hearing device according to the present invention.

 FIG. 2 is a side view of the humanoid robot of FIG.

 FIG. 3 is a schematic enlarged view showing the configuration of the head in the humanoid robot of FIG. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of the robot auditory system in the humanoid robot of FIG.

 FIG. 5 is a schematic front view showing a mounting structure of an internal microphone in the humanoid robot of FIG.

 FIG. 6 is an enlarged front view showing a main part of the mounting structure of the internal microphone in FIG.

 FIG. 7 is an enlarged side view showing a main part of the mounting structure of the internal microphone in FIG.

 FIG. 8 is an enlarged perspective view showing a main part of the mounting structure of the internal microphone in FIG.

 FIG. 9 is a graph showing an example of acoustic data and pitch information extracted by the pitch extraction unit in the robot hearing system of FIG.

 FIG. 10 is an enlarged perspective view showing a main part of a modified example of the mounting structure of the internal microphone in FIG. BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

 Hereinafter, a first preferred embodiment of the robot hearing system of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

 FIGS. 1 to 4 show the overall configuration of an experimental humanoid robot provided with an embodiment of the robot hearing system according to the present invention.

In FIG. 1, the humanoid robot 10 is configured as a 4-DOF (degree of freedom) robot. The humanoid robot 10 includes a base 11, a body 12 supported rotatably around one axis (vertical axis) on the base 11, and a three-axis direction on the body 12 ( (Vertical axis, horizontal axis in the horizontal direction, and horizontal axis in the front-rear direction). The head 13 and

 The base 11 may be fixedly arranged, and may be operable as a leg of a robot. Further, the base 11 may be placed on a movable cart or the like.

 The body portion 12 is rotatably supported about a vertical axis with respect to the base 11 as shown by an arrow A in FIG. 1, and is rotationally driven by a driving means (not shown). Further, the body 12 is entirely covered with a soundproof exterior.

 The head 13 is supported on the body 12 via a connecting member 13a, and around the horizontal axis in the front-rear direction with respect to the connecting member 13a, as shown by an arrow B in FIG. It is swingably supported around a horizontal axis in the left-right direction as shown by arrow C in FIG. The connecting member 13a is swingably supported relative to the body 12 around a horizontal axis in the front-rear direction, as indicated by an arrow D in FIG.

 The rotation in the directions of the arrows A, B, C, and D is performed by driving means (not shown).

 Here, the head 13 is entirely covered with a soundproof exterior 14, as shown in FIG. Further, the head 13 has a camera 15 on the front side as a visual device in charge of robot vision, and a pair of external microphones 16 (16a, 16b) on both sides as a hearing device for robot hearing. .

 Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the head 13 includes a pair of internal microphones 17 (17a, 17b) which are disposed inside the exterior 14 so as to be separated from each other.

 The exterior 14 is made of a sound absorbing synthetic resin such as a urethane resin. The exterior 14 is configured so that the inside of the head 13 is sound-insulated by almost completely sealing the inside of the head 13. The exterior of the body 12 is similarly made of a sound-absorbing synthetic resin.

 The camera 15 has a known configuration. For example, a commercially available camera having 3 DOFs (degrees of freedom) of so-called pan, tilt, and zoom can be used.

The external microphones 16 are attached to the sides of the head 13 so as to have directionality toward the front. Here, the left and right external microphones 16a and 16b on the left and right of the external microphone 16 are respectively attached to stepped portions 14a and 14b facing forward on both sides of the exterior 14, as shown in FIGS. It is mounted on the inside, and through the through holes provided in the steps 14a, 14b, collects the sound in front and is sound-insulated by appropriate means so as not to pick up the sound inside the exterior 14.

 Thus, the external microphones 16a and 16b are configured as so-called binaural microphones. In the vicinity of the mounting position of the external microphones 16a and 16b, the exterior 14 may be formed in the shape of a human outer ear.

 The internal microphones 17 are respectively located inside the exterior 14 in the vicinity of the external microphones 16a and 16b described above, and in the illustrated case, above the both ends of the camera 15 as described later. Is arranged so as to be movable in the lateral direction.

 Note that the internal microphone 17 may be provided at an arbitrary position inside the exterior 14.

 FIG. 4 shows an electrical configuration of a hearing system for sound processing including the external microphone 16 and the internal microphone 17.

 In FIG. 4, a hearing system 20 includes amplifiers 21 a, 2 lb, 21 c, and 2 Id that amplify acoustic signals from the external microphones 16 a and 16 b and the internal microphones 17 a and 17 b, respectively. AD converters 22a, 22b, 22c, 22 that convert these amplified signals into digital audio signals SOL, SOR, SIL, SIR by AD conversion, and left and right noise removal circuits to which these digital audio signals are input 23, 24, pitch extraction units 25, 26 to which digital audio signals SR, SL from noise elimination circuits 23, 24 are input, and left and right channel corresponding units to which audio data from pitch extraction units 25, 26 are input 27, and a sound source separation unit 28 to which data from the left and right channel corresponding units 27 is input.

The AD converters 22a to 22d are configured to take out a signal sampled at 48 kHz with a quantization bit number of 16 or 24, for example. Then, the digital audio signal SOL from the left external microphone 16 a and the digital audio signal SIL from the left internal microphone 1 a are input to the noise removal circuit 23. The digital audio signal SOR from the external microphone 16b on the right and the left The digital acoustic signal SIR from the internal microphone 17 b is input to the noise elimination circuit 24.

 These noise elimination circuits 23 and 24 have the same configuration, and are configured to cancel noise from the acoustic signal from the external microphone 16 by the noise signal from the internal microphone 17.

 That is, the noise elimination circuit 23 converts the digital sound signal SOL from the external microphone 16a into a noise signal SIL from the noise source inside the robot collected by the internal microphone 17a. The noise from the external microphone 16a is reduced by appropriate noise reduction processing such as subtracting the acoustic signal SIL from the internal microphone 16a from the digital acoustic signal SOL from the external microphone 16a. The left acoustic signal SL is generated by removing noise from noise sources such as each drive mechanism inside the robot mixed in the signal S 0 L.

 In addition, the noise removal circuit 24 is based on the digital audio signal SOR from the external microphone 16 b and the noise signal SIR from the noise source inside the robot collected by the internal microphone 17 b, The noise from the external microphone 16b is reduced by appropriate noise cancellation processing such as subtracting the acoustic signal SIR from the internal microphone 1 内部 b from the digital sound signal SOR from the external microphone 16b. The noise from the noise source such as each drive mechanism inside the robot mixed into the signal SIR is removed, and the right acoustic signal SR is generated.

 The pitch extraction units 25 and 26 have the same configuration. The left and right sound signals SL and SR from the noise elimination circuits 23 and 24 are subjected to frequency analysis, and the three axes of time, frequency and power are analyzed. It is configured to retrieve the acoustic data and pitch information. That is, the pitch extraction unit 25 performs frequency analysis on the left acoustic signal SL from the noise elimination circuit 23 to obtain three axes of time, frequency and power from the two-axis acoustic signal S composed of time and power. Take out the left acoustic data DL called a spectrogram.

Similarly, the pitch extraction unit 26 performs frequency analysis on the right acoustic signal SR from the noise elimination circuit 24 to obtain the time, frequency, and power from the two-axis acoustic signal SR composed of time and power. Three-axis right sound data DR, pitch information Take out.

 Here, the above-mentioned frequency analysis is performed by performing FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) with a window length of, for example, 20 ms and shifting by 7.5 ms.

 Such frequency analysis is not limited to FFT and may be performed by various general methods.

 In the sound data DL obtained in this manner, each sound in voice and music is shown as a series of peaks in the time direction on a spectrogram, and generally has a harmonic structure. And has a peak regularly at an integer multiple of the frequency value.

 The left and right channel corresponding units 27 are used to determine the phase difference, time difference, etc. of the pitch information of the harmonic structure indicated by the peak in the sound data DL and DR from the left and right pitch extraction units 25 and 26, respectively. Based on this, the direction of the sound is determined by associating the pitches derived from the same sound with the left and right channels.

 In the case shown in the figure, the left and right channel corresponding units 27 provide information on the target from other perceptual systems 30 (not shown) provided in the robot 10 in addition to the auditory system 20, specifically, for example, the position, direction, shape, By inputting information on the presence / absence of movement and information on the target flexibility, presence / absence of vibration, tactile sensation, etc. by the haptic system, the direction of the sound from the sound source described above can be more clearly determined It is configured as follows.

 The sound source separation unit 28 receives the direction information and the sound data DL and DR from the left and right channel corresponding units 27 according to a known configuration. Thus, the sound source is identified from the sound data DL and DR based on the information of the direction, and the sound data is separated for each sound source.

 Here, the internal microphone 17 is specifically attached to the camera 15 as shown in FIGS.

 First, in FIG. 5, each of the internal microphones 17a and 17b is fixed to mounting brackets 40 and 41 as movable members, respectively.

These mounting brackets 40, 41 are formed in a substantially U-shape with the upper part opened. The upper ends of the inner microphones 17a and 17b are fixedly held by being brought close to each other with the tightening screws 40a and 41a.

 The mounting brackets 40 and 41 are respectively slidably mounted on the support members 42 and 43 in a lateral direction as described later.

 The support members 42 and 43 are fixed to the upper surface of the camera 15 by brackets 44, respectively. In the illustrated case, the support members 42 and 43 are formed integrally with the bracket 44, and the bracket 44 is screwed to a mounting base 15a on which the camera 15 is mounted.

 Here, each support member 42, 43 is provided with a slot 42a, 43a extending in the lateral direction, respectively.

 The mounting brackets 40 and 41 have screw holes (not shown) for receiving the fixing screws 45 and 46 inserted into the slots 42a and 43a, respectively. Are fixed and held on the support members 42 and 43 by being tightened.

 The humanoid robot 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention is configured as described above, and the sound from the target to be collected by the external microphones 16a and 16b is collected as follows, and the noise is canceled. Is perceived by the sound source.

 First, external microphones 16a, 16b mainly collect external sounds from the target and output analog sound signals. Here, the external microphones 16a and 16b also collect noise from the inside of the mouth bot, but the exterior 14 itself seals the inside of the head 13 and the external microphones 16a and 16b The noise that is mixed into the analog sound signal is suppressed to a relatively low level because the sound is shielded from the inside.

 On the other hand, the internal microphones 17a and 17b mainly collect noise from the inside of the robot, for example, noise from noise generating sources such as the operating noise of each drive mechanism and the operating noise of the cooling fan. . Here, the internal microphones 17a and 17b also collect sound from outside, but since the exterior 14 hermetically seals the inside, the level of mixed noise is kept relatively low.

Analog audio signals from external microphones 16a and 16b collected in this way Analog audio signals from the internal microphones 17a and 17b are amplified by amplifiers 21a to 21d, respectively, and then digital audio signals SOL, SOR, SIL, SIR by AD converters 22a to 22d. The signal is AD-converted and input to the noise elimination circuits 23 and 24.

 The noise elimination circuits 23 and 24 perform arithmetic processing such as subtracting the audio signals SIL and SIR from the internal microphones 17a and 17b from the audio signals SOL and SOR from the external microphones 16a and 16b, respectively. The noise signal from the noise source inside the robot is removed from the sound signals SOL and SOR from the external microphones 16a and 16b. As a result, the noise elimination circuits 23 and 24 respectively output the true acoustic signals SL and SR from which noise has been eliminated to the outside.

 Then, based on the sound signals SL and SR, the pitch extraction units 25 and 26 generate sound data DL and DR by frequency analysis.

 Here, the acoustic data is shown as, for example, a spectrogram as shown in FIG. In the acoustic data of Fig. 9, the horizontal axis represents time t (seconds), the vertical axis represents frequency (Hz), and the density represents power, for example, frequency components intermittently connected from time t1 to time t2. I have. In the illustrated case, this frequency component has a series of peaks of 1000 Hz, 2000 Hz, 3000 Hz, and so on. Since these peaks are each an integral multiple of 1000 Hz, Typically, these frequency components can be understood to represent only one sound, or each one. In this case, since these frequency components start at the same time and end at the same time, it is determined that these frequency components indicate the harmonic structure of only one sound. Therefore, the pitch extraction units 25 and 26 set the fundamental frequency 100 OHz, which is the lowest frequency, as the pitch.

 In this way, the pitch extraction units 25 and 26 extract the pitches of all the sounds included in the sound signals SL and SR, and extract the pitches of the sounds corresponding to the pitches, At the end, at time t2, the sound data DL, DR, and pitch information are output to the left and right channel corresponding unit 27.

Subsequently, the left and right channel corresponding unit 27 determines the direction of the sound for each sound source based on the sound data DL and DR. In this case, the left and right channel correspondence unit 27 compares the harmonic structures of the left and right channels based on the sound data DL and DR extracted by the pitch extraction units 25 and 26, and associates the closest pitch . In that case, it is preferable to make more accurate correspondence by comparing not only the pitch of the left and right channels one-to-one but also a plurality of pitches of one channel with one pitch of the other channel. Les ,. Then, the left and right channel corresponding section 27 can easily calculate and direct the direction of the sound source by comparing the phases of the pitches associated with each other.

 Accordingly, the sound source separation unit 28 extracts the sound data for each sound source from the sound data DL and DR based on the sound direction information from the left and right channel corresponding units 27, and outputs the sound data for each sound source. To separate. In this way, the hearing system 20 can perform sound recognition by separating sounds for each sound source and perform active hearing.

 Here, the internal microphones 17a, 17b are fixedly held by the mounting brackets 40, 41, respectively, and the mounting brackets 40, 41 are fixedly held by the support members 42, 43, so that the internal microphones 17a, 17b are fixed to the camera 15. Fixedly held.

 Further, the mounting brackets 40, 41 are screwed to the support members 42, 43 by fixing screws 45, 46 inserted into the slots 42a, 43a of the support members 42, 43, respectively.

 At this time, the mounting brackets 40, 41 and the internal microphones 17a, 17b are fixed to the mounting members 45, 46 with the fixing screws 45, 46 loosened, and the fixing screws 45, 46 are inserted into the slots 42a, 43a of the support members 42, 43, respectively. By sliding inside, the horizontal position is adjusted appropriately, and after adjustment, the fixing screws 45 and 46 are tightened.

 Thus, the internal microphones 17a and 17b can be set at desired positions by being moved and adjusted in the lateral direction inside the exterior 14 of the head 13. That is, the internal microphones 17a and 17b are adjusted to positions at appropriate distances with respect to the corresponding external microphones 16a and 16b, so that the noise generated by the above-described noise removing circuits 23 and 24 is adjusted. Cancellation can be performed most effectively.

Thus, according to the humanoid robot 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention, the noise reduction circuits 23 and 24 allow the external microphones 16 and 17 to be appropriately adjusted in the horizontal direction while the internal microphones 17 a and 17 b are appropriately adjusted. a, 16 b Sound signal from SOL, SOR, internal By performing noise cancellation based on the acoustic signals SIL and SIR from the microphones 17a and 17b, the S / N ratio can be increased while the directivity of the external microphones 16a and 16b is directed to the target by each drive mechanism. A good acoustic signal can be obtained, and the sound from each sound source can be separated to perform more accurate speech recognition.

 Therefore, even when the target is moving, for example, the acoustic recognition of the target can be performed while the directionality of the directivity of the external microphones 16a and 16b always follows the target by each drive mechanism. .

 At this time, the left and right channel corresponding unit 27 refers to, for example, the visual target direction information from the visual system as the other perceptual system 30 to determine the direction of the sound, thereby providing more accurate sound direction. Can do it.

 When a visual system is used as the other perceptual system 30, the left and right channel corresponding units 27 may output sound direction information to the visual system. This allows the visual system 30 to refer to sound-directing information from the auditory system 20 when directing a target by image recognition, for example, by moving the target and hiding behind obstacles. Even if you do, you can refer to the sound from the target and more accurately direct the target.

 FIG. 10 shows a modification of the mounting structure of the internal microphones 17a and 17b described above. In FIG. 10, supporting members 42 and 43 for supporting the internal microphones 17a and 17b movably in the lateral direction are further fixed to an upper surface of the camera 15 by appropriate means (not shown). It is attached to 47 and 48 so that it can slide in the front-rear direction. The second support members 47, 48 have slots 47a, 48a extending in the front-rear direction, respectively.

 The vertically extending bent portions 42b, 42c (43b, 43c) formed at both ends of the support members 42, 43 are respectively provided with fixing screws 49 inserted into these slots 47a, 48a. Screw holes (not shown) for receiving the fixing members 49, 50, and these fixing screws 49, 50 are fixed to the second support members 47, 48 by being tightened.

According to the mounting structure of the internal microphones 17a and 17b having such a configuration, the internal microphones 17a and 17b are fixedly held by the mounting brackets 40 and 41, respectively. The mounting brackets 40 and 41 are fixedly held by the support members 42 and 43 and the second support members 47 and 48, thereby being fixedly held to the camera 15.

 Further, the mounting brackets 40, 41 are screwed to the support members 42, 43 by fixing screws 45, 46 inserted into the slots 42a, 43a of the support members 42, 43, respectively. 42, 43 are respectively screwed to the second support members 47, 48 with fixing screws 49, 50 passed through the slots 47a, 48a of the second support members 47, 48. .

 At that time, the mounting brackets 40, 41 and the internal microphones 17a, 17b are fixed to the fixing screws 45, 46 while the fixing screws 45, 46 are loosened. The position in the horizontal direction is adjusted as appropriate by sliding in 43a, and after adjustment, the fixing screws 45 and 46 are tightened.

 The fixing screws 49 and 50 slide in the slots 47 a and 48 a of the second supporting members 47 and 48, respectively, with the fixing screws 49 and 50 loosened. By doing so, the position in the front-rear direction is appropriately adjusted, and after the adjustment, the fixing screws 49 and 50 are tightened.

 Thus, the internal microphones 17a and 17b can be set at desired positions by being moved and adjusted in the lateral and front-back directions inside the exterior 14 of the head 13. That is, the internal microphones 17a and 17b are adjusted to positions at appropriate distances with respect to the corresponding external microphones 16a and 16b, respectively, so that the noise cancellation by the noise removing circuits 23 and 24 described above is more effectively achieved. Can be done In the above-described embodiment, the humanoid robot 10 is configured to have 4 DOF (degree of freedom). However, the present invention is not limited to this. The robot according to the present invention may be a robot configured to perform an arbitrary operation. It is also possible to incorporate a hearing system. Further, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the robot hearing system according to the present invention is incorporated in the humanoid robot 10 has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. Obviously, it can be built into a robot.

 Further, in the above-described embodiment, the internal microphone 17 is constituted by a pair of microphones 17a and 17b, but may be constituted by two or more pairs of microphones.

Four Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, the external microphone 16 is configured by a pair of microphones 16a and 16b, but may be configured by two or more pairs of microphones.

 In the above-described embodiment, the internal microphones 17a and 17b are configured to be movable and adjustable in the horizontal direction along the slots 42a and 43a of the support members 42 and 43. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and it may be configured so that the movement can be adjusted in the horizontal direction by other means.

 The mounting brackets 40 and 41 may be configured to be movable and adjustable in the lateral direction with respect to the support members 42 and 43 and the camera 15 by driving means. In this case, it is possible to adjust the horizontal position of the internal microphones 17a and 17b in the assembled state without removing the exterior 14 from the head 13 of the humanoid robot 10. Therefore, noise cancellation can be performed more effectively and more accurately.

 Further, in the above-described embodiment, the internal microphones 17a and 17b are supported so as to be movable in the horizontal direction or in the horizontal direction and the front-back direction. It may be movably supported. In this case, the internal microphones 17a and 17b are supported by a mechanism having a known configuration that can be adjusted in three axes. As described above, according to the present invention, the external microphone mainly collects sound from an external target, and the internal microphone mainly collects noise from a noise generating source such as a drive mechanism inside the robot. At this time, the noise signal from the noise source inside the robot is mixed in the acoustic signal collected by the external microphone, and this mixed noise signal is collected by the internal microphone by arithmetic processing in the noise removing unit. The noise is significantly reduced by being canceled by the noise signal.

 Then, from the acoustic signal from which the noise has been canceled, the acoustic signal is extracted by frequency analysis by the pitch extraction unit, and the sound direction is determined from the acoustic signal by the left and right channel corresponding units. Then, the sound source is separated into sound data for each sound source by a sound source separation unit.

Therefore, in the acoustic signal from the external microphone, the noise from the noise source such as the drive mechanism inside the robot is easily and significantly reduced by the arithmetic processing in the noise elimination unit, and the S / N ratio is greatly increased. To separate sound data for each sound source. It can be performed better.

 As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to perform active perception by collecting sound from an external target without being affected by noise generated inside the robot such as a drive mechanism. An extremely good robot hearing system is provided.

 In addition, since the above-mentioned internal microphone is arranged to be able to move in the horizontal direction inside the exterior, the internal microphone is moved in the horizontal direction so that noise from the noise source inside the robot is better collected. Thus, the distance between each internal microphone and the corresponding external microphone to be paired can be appropriately adjusted, and noise can be better canceled from the acoustic signal collected by the external microphone.

 It should be noted that the present invention has been described with reference to exemplary embodiments, and it is understood by those skilled in the art that various changes, omissions, and additions can be made in the embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. It is obvious. Therefore, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments, but should be understood as including the range defined based on the elements described in the claims and the equivalents thereof. Industrial applicability

 As described above, the robot hearing system according to the present invention is extremely useful as a hearing system for active hearing in a robot, particularly in a humanoid or animal robot.

Claims

Scope of request For robots with noise sources inside,  A soundproof exterior covering at least a part of the robot,  At least one pair of external microphones provided outside the exterior and mainly collecting external sound;  At least one pair of internal microphones provided inside the exterior and collecting noise mainly from internal noise sources;  A noise removing unit that cancels a noise signal from an internal noise source from an acoustic signal from the external microphone based on the left and right signals from the external microphone and the internal microphone, respectively;  A pitch extraction unit that performs frequency analysis on each of the left and right audio signals from the noise removal unit and extracts audio data and pitch information relating to time, frequency, and power;  A left and right channel corresponding unit for directing sound from a harmonic structure with a pitch indicated by the sound data based on the left and right sound data and the pitch information extracted by the pitch extracting unit;  A sound source separation unit that separates the sound data into sound data for each sound source based on the sound direction information extracted by the left and right channel corresponding units. . In a human or animal robot with a noise source such as a drive mechanism inside,  A soundproof exterior covering at least the head of the robot,  At least one pair of external microphones provided at both ear positions corresponding to both ears on the outside of the exterior, and mainly collecting external sound;  At least one pair of internal microphones provided inside the exterior and collecting noise mainly from internal noise sources; Sound from the external microphone based on the signals from the external microphone and the internal microphone A noise removing unit for canceling a noise signal from an internal noise source from the signal,  A pitch extracting unit that performs frequency analysis from the left and right acoustic signals from the noise removing unit and extracts acoustic data and pitch information relating to time, frequency, and power;  A left and right channel corresponding unit for directing a sound from a harmonic structure with a pitch of the sound data based on the left and right sound data and the bitch information extracted by the pitch extracting unit; A sound source separation unit configured to separate the sound data into sound data for each sound source based on the sound direction information extracted by the left and right channel corresponding units. Further, the robot is provided with a perception system such as visual and tactile senses, and the left and right channel corresponding units refer to information from these perception systems to direct sound. 3. The robot hearing system according to paragraph 1 or 2. 4. The robot hearing system according to claim 3, wherein the left and right channel corresponding unit outputs information relating to sound direction to the perception system. The robot hearing system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the internal microphone is disposed inside the exterior so as to be movable at least in a lateral direction. . The robot listening according to claim 5, wherein the internal microphone is slidably supported by a support member extending in a lateral direction inside the exterior. A member comprising a laterally extending slot, wherein the internal microphone comprises: 7. The robot hearing device according to claim 6, wherein the robot hearing device is fixed to a movable member slidably supported along a slot of the support member. 8. The Robo's soto hearing device according to claim 7, wherein the movable member is screwed to a support member by a fixing screw inserted into the slot. The robot hearing device according to claim 5, wherein the internal microphone is further disposed so as to be movable in the front-back direction. 0. The internal microphone is slidably supported on a first support member extending in the lateral direction inside the exterior, and the first support member moves forward and backward inside the exterior. 10. The robot hearing device according to claim 9, wherein the robot hearing device is slidably supported by a second support member that extends. 1. The robot according to any one of claims 5, 9, and 10, wherein the internal microphone is further disposed so as to be movable in a vertical direction.