Mimesis Scheme using a Monocular Vision System on a Humanoid Robot

Optical motion capturing systems are widely used to acquire human beings' motion patterns in humanoid imitation learning research. However, optical motion capturing systems have a restricted movable area. This paper proposes the HMM based mimesis scheme using a monocular camera mounted on a humanoid. This scheme releases the restriction of movable area and enables imitation in daily life environments. Also, natural human-robot-interaction is expected during imitation. From two-dimensional image sequences of the demonstrator's motion, the demonstrator's pose and motion is estimated and recognized through the mimesis model and the humanoid generates its joint motor commands for imitation in 3D space. The feasibility of the proposed scheme is demonstrated by simulation.