Patent ID: 8145492

Claim:
A voice control system, of a robot, for learning a phoneme sequence, comprising: sound inputting means for inputting a phoneme sequence, the sound inputting means including a cochlear filter bank; sound signal learning means for converting the input phoneme sequence into a first sound synthesis parameter in which speaker emotional individuality is reflected and for evaluating and learning a difference between (a) a second sound synthesis parameter of a robot phoneme sequence that is generated by the robot by imitating the input phoneme sequence, the second sound synthesis parameter generated based upon an internal state of the robot determined from self-analysis of the robot's voice via the cochlear filter bank of the sound inputting means and (b) the first sound synthesis parameter, of the speaker, which is used for sound imitation; and sound synthesizing means for generating the robot phoneme sequence which imitates the input phoneme sequence of the speaker, the robot phoneme sequence to be output based on the first and second sound synthesis parameters obtained by the sound signal learning means, wherein the robot phoneme sequence to be output is pronounced with different characteristics based on the internal state of the robot, the internal state including emotions such as instincts and feelings, and wherein the robot phoneme sequence output by the sound synthesizing means is input to the cochlear filter bank of the sound inputting means to generate the second sound synthesis parameter for self-analysis of the robot's voice.