Slashdot Mirror
Lost the Remote? Use Your Face
coondoggie writes "A researcher has discovered a way to use facial expressions to speed and slow video playback.
By using a combination of facial expression recognition software and automated tutoring technology Jacob Whitehill, a computer science Ph.D. student from UC San Diego's Jacobs School of Engineering, is leading the project that ultimately is part of a larger venture to use automated facial expression recognition to make robots more effective teachers.
The researchers recently conducted a pilot test with 8 people that demonstrated information within the facial expressions people make while watching recorded video lectures can be used to predict a person's preferred viewing speed of the video and how difficult a person perceives the lecture at each moment in time."
wait... now what did you say? I didn't get it. Could you explain it another way please?
... or just look between the couch cushions.
I have Bell's Palsy you insensitive clod!
So, whenever you were constipated, your movie would start rewinding?
The obvious use for this technology is, of course, pornography. When it detects a look of boredom it knows to fast-forward through the plot bits. When it detects a relaxed-but-slightly-guilty look, it knows to stop the video and clear your browsing history.
What about when it sees my O face. You know, Oh Oh Oh...
Great. Then you'll know when the kids who grew up with this technology get bored -- they'll subconsciously start to make the "fast forward" facial expression.
And when they mishear something, they'll make the "rewind" face.
I can't wait. It'll be hilarious.
There are some faces I make when I see goatse and other 'shock' sites. Would be nice to link those to 'alt-f4'.
There are also some faces I make at work when the boss shows up that could also help to have an action linked to make it look like I'm working.
For some reason the boss didn't like the rfid tags idea for boss tracking.
can do this. I've noticed bad college professors just keep plowing through the subject. The best ones will look at the students faces and say, "Lets back up a little," when they see blank stares from their pupils.
I don't think the ability to determine how difficult a concept is to grasp is the breakthrough here. I think it's the fact that a machine can do it.
One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
Has anyone heard of a company making good headway in this department?
CS: It is all sink or swim...oh and did I mention there are sharks in that water?
Next, they'll be teaching computers to read lips. Anyone who has seen 2001: A Space Odyssey knows that this is a bad idea.
If it can recognize my "Stupid TiVo!" face when TiVo starts playing back one minute after (or before) I press the play button when rewinding (or fast-forwarding), well, we've got a winner here. Or at least recognize what I mean when I'm screaming "Not there! THERE! Ya piece of junk!"
Prisencolinensinainciusol. Ol Rait!
A researcher has discovered a way to use facial expressions to speed and slow video playback.
By using a combination of facial expression recognition software and automated tutoring technology Jacob Whitehill, a computer science Ph.D. student from UC San Diego's Jacobs School of Engineering, is leading the project that ultimately is part of a larger venture to use automated facial expression recognition to make robots more effective teachers.
The researchers recently conducted a pilot test with 8 people that demonstrated information within the facial expressions people make while watching recorded video lectures can be used to predict a person's preferred viewing speed of the video and how difficult a person perceives the lecture at each moment in time.
"If I am a student dealing with a robot teacher and I am completely puzzled and yet the robot keeps presenting new material, that's not going to be very useful to me. If, instead, the robot stops and says, 'Oh, maybe you're confused,' and I say, 'Yes, thank you for stopping,' that's really good," said Whitehill in a release.
Recent advances in the fields of pattern recognition, computer vision, and machine learning have made automatic facial expression recognition in real-time a viable resource for intelligent tutoring systems (ITS), researchers added. As facial expression recognition technology improves in accuracy, the range of its application will grow. One particular application we are currently developing is a \smart video player" which modulates the video speed in real-time based on the user's facial expression so that the rate of lesson presentation is optimal for the current user, researchers said.
In the pilot study, researcher said the facial movements people made when they perceived the lecture to be difficult varied widely from person to person. Most of the 8 test subjects, however, blinked less frequently during difficult parts of the lecture than during easier portions of the lecture, which is supported by findings in psychology.
One of the next steps for this project is to determine what facial movements one person naturally makes when they are exposed to difficult or easy lecture material. From here, researchers could train a user specific model that predicts when a lecture should be sped up or slowed down based on the spontaneous facial expressions a person makes.
The goal of UC San Diego's Machine Perception Laboratory is to gain insights into how the brain works by developing systems that perceive and interact with humans in real time using natural communication channels. Researchers are also developing algorithms for robots that develop and learn to interact with people on their own. Applications include personal robots, perceptive tutoring systems, and system for clinical assessment, monitoring, and intervention.
Interested in hypermiling?
Oh, oh, facial recognition. That makes a lot more sense. When I read the headline, I first thought it was going to suggest that if you lose the remote, get up and bash the buttons on the DVD player with your forehead or something.
A similar system applied to computer keyboards would certainly make IT and data entry more interesting professions...
Demanding constant attention will only lead to attention.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
Lets see... according to the speed of playback, I'd say the attacker jumped around the corner and startled John Doe before killing him and fleeing. It's clear that John Doe was a sports fan and configured his system to slow the video down when the current game play is unexpectedly upsetting.
Until we develop a neural link, all other interfaces will be poor substitutes. Of course there are drawbacks like the possibility that it will become The Matrix. Even if it worked, it might work too well:
[Average male watching TV]
[Average Male thought]: Hey! Football is on.
[Neural Link switches to football]
[Average Male thought]: Damn, a commercial. What else is on?
[Neural Link begins switching channels at a breathtaking rate. Epilleptics in room start convulsing]
[Average Male thought]: Is the game back on?
[Neural Link switches back to football]
[Average Male thought]: Damn, another commercial. Hey that girl is hot!
[Neural Link switches to Playboy channel and dims lights]
[Male's Significant Other stares at him in disgust]
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
So when you are nodding off late at night, what happens? Does the volume go up and down? That could create an infinite loop. I bet if my neighbor's wife looked at the TV it would change the channel to the Sci-fi network.
... when you do this in front of other people because of a lost remote, now you lose face as well.
Finally, a system that will automatically fast forward past m night shyamalan and uwe boll films purely by observing my natural reactions.
> The next Slashdot story will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and see it early!
...
*look of boredom*
Nope, didn't help
Bark less. Wag more.
Cool! We could apply this to computers and do away with the mouse...
Typical day at the support desk:
Support: "Hello, how can I help you?"
User: "Hi, I can't see how to open an application"
Support: "OK, you need to look at the application you want to open"
User: "OK"
Support: "Now, double blink with your left eye"
User: "Hey! That did it!"
Support: "Great, is there anything else I can help you with?"
User: "Yeah, sometimes I'll be doing stuff and the popup menu will appear, it's quite annoying"
Support: "Hmmm, perhaps you suffer from a nervous twitch"
User: "Actually, I do have a problem in my right eye, that's probably it!"
Support: "Thanks for calling, bye now."
Summation 2
go threw it?
my mind explodes and i cringe
the clip fast forwards
WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.
Flipping through the channels is gonna get ugly.
I usually walk up to the TV and use my hands.
This is a signature. Bow to me.
The 9th person in the test sneezed and the television exploded.
When i am bored it will speed up the tape so the professor sounds like the chipmunks ... this might actually have worked with my chemistry professor :)
He always reminded me of the adults in a Peanuts video anyways.....
my mind explodes and i cringe
Huked on Foniks pwns u!if I put my finger in my nose, does it understand that I want to watch some porn ?
Votez ecolo : Chiez dans l'urne !
"...this meant you had to sit infuriatingly still if you wanted to avoid constantly changing the channel"
No sig today...
Hand gesture recognition makes a lot more sense.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
Ive presented complex materials where the Alpha person(ppl) in the room (male or female) will just make a face like you are insulting their mother - looking like they hate you and every word you say. But they are actually very intelligent individuals and pick up the material faster then others - they are just pissed off pricks or cunts and wear that expression all day long. Its the "born pissed off" look. Or the permanent "looks like something smells bad" people.
Then again, there are people who just look stupid all day long too. And what about detecting an "O face" (Officespace ref). Will the robot caress your afterwards or just get up and go to work/home.
So not only will we be watching more TV, but we'll develop an uncontrollable twitch....
If you've never been modded as "flamebait" or "troll," you've never tried to argue a minority viewpoint here!
Wouldn't it be much easier to use your fingers to push the TV set buttons than your face?
But copious use of the word "facial" caused the site to be blocked.
What if your annoying identical twin comes round and decided to rewind or fast-forward the movie your watching?
I read the last sentence as "Use The Force."
I'm pretty sure that the facial expression from watching porn will be the one which rapidly raises the volume up.
I've lost the remote plenty of times. I told my room mate that if did not change the channel that I was going to use his face to do it.
It worked remarkably well.
You look like you are trying to fast forward. Would you like help?
I don't want a vcr that i am supposed to make faces at! I want to be able to give it the finger and have it know what i mean - that would be nifty.
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
Seriously, I stopped watching after 20mins of monkeys fucking around with stones. That was too much.
> "A researcher has discovered a way to use facial expressions to speed and slow video playback. It must have, since academics have time to explore the new depths of laziness.
I tried using a similar input device on my computer, but whenever I showed it my face, the computer would crash.
- RG>
Hey pal, this isn't a pleasantforest, so don't waste my time with pleasantries!
What is it, anyway? I ain't googling it.
Support: "Now, double blink with your left eye"
User: "Your left, or my left?"
(I'm also allowing for the possibility that the user knows the word "eye", which is dubious at best. Because, you see, whereas many people would say "those two round vision organs on your head are your eyes", this particular user has called those his "orbs" for the last 40 years whippersnapper, and the rest of the world should conform to his nomenclature.)
Help poke pirates in the eyepatch, arr.
remember when Comcast or some cable company wanted to put cameras in their cable boxes (supposedly to see how many people watch cause 1 tv could mean more than 1 viewer blahblah)
what a great new thing to use to implement that! now you can be spied on 24/7 while making stupid faces!