Software To Evaluate Facial Expressions Developed

The Technology Review site has up an article on new software that can do quantitative analysis of facial expressions, detecting whether a person is smiling. The software was developed by the Omron Corporation, and can also estimate a subject's age and gender, or verify a person's identity from a database. Though the company doesn't yet know whether it plans to release the software commercially, there are a number of obvious applications. "Omron envisions the smile software being used in marketing, perhaps to evaluate consumers' reactions to a new product or to an advertising campaign. A smile checker could also help train customer-service staff to meet Japan's legendarily high standards ... A smile in isolation is easy to detect, but the bigger challenge is to develop systems that can recognize the concerto of facial actions that make up complex expressions like confusion, fear, and disgust." Thanks to jamie for the link.

Comments

But will it detect sarcasm?

[starglider29a]

A sarcastic smile? A sardonic smile? A wistful smile? A retail smile? The masked lie? "Mmmm... this casserole taste great, hunny"

Or the smile that Ballmer uses when describing Vista's security or sales milestones? The smile that Verizon execs wear when they promise "unlimited..."???

Analyze This!

[Sponge Bath]

:-)

Expression analyzed: Terrorist Alert!

Looking at the mouth, or eyes?

[jackpot777]

Plenty of people smile with their mouth, but their eyes tell how happy they aren't.

Probably why Japanese emoticons reflect their emotions with the eyes instead of the mouth.

(^_^)(^_^)

The mouth isn't smiling, but the eyes say PAAARTY!