• 3D
• autism
• FACE
• mesh
• robot

People with autism are known to possess deficits in processing mental states and they might have unusual ways of learning, paying attention, and reacting to different sensations. FACE (Facial Automation for Conveying Emotions) is a humanoid robot capable of expressing and conveying emotions to enable autistic people to better deal with emotional and expressive information.
To this purpose, this thesis concerns about developing a software framework for controlling the servo motors actuating FACE, responsible for defining facial expressions of the android.
A set of tool has been developed to enable the psychologists to manage the robot during the therapy sessions and to analyze acquired data, such as physiological signals and recorded video, after the therapies.
Moreover a 3D simulator of FACE is being developed in order to allow therapists to prepare expressions and facial behaviors even off-line in a compatible way with the capabilities of the real robot. The algorithm used to modify the 3D facial mesh is based on a physical model allowing more realistic expressions.