Railway Workers Get Daily Smile Scans

More than 500 workers at Japan's, Keihin Electric Express Railway, must have their faces scanned each morning to determine their optimum smile. The "smile scan" analyzes a smile based on facial characteristics, from lip curves and eye movements to wrinkles. After the program scans you, it produces a smile rating that ranges from zero to 100 depending on the estimated potential of your biggest smile. If your number is sufficient, you can go about your day grinning like a maniac. If your smile number is too low the computer will give you a message such as, "lift up your mouth corners" or "you still look too serious." Every morning employees receive a printout of their daily smile which they are expected to keep with them throughout the day.

Comments

Re:Omron is the Manufacturer

[beckett]

as a followup, here is the OAKO Realtime Smile Recognition technology probably being employed in the worker scanning. according to the sparse sites the system can operate without calibration.

Re:Japan is insane.

[ShieldW0lf]

It was originally called Acedia. It's an ancient Greek word describing a state of listlessness or torpor.

This was subdivided into Despair (Latin, Tristitia) and Sloth (Latin, Socordia)

It wasn't until around the 17th century that the interpretation of laziness became dominant. It was intended to refer to a sadness and depression that kills the charitable nature of a mans soul, cutting him off from the possibility of redemption.

Nowadays, we label it "mental illness".

Re:Pretty much

[Repossessed]

"The only first-world country with no laws about racial persecution."

They did outlaw discrimination based on blood type though! That they even needed that law is pretty terrifying though.