MIT Research Amplifies Invisible Detail In Video

An anonymous reader writes "MIT researchers have invented an algorithm which is able to amplify motion in video that is invisible to the naked eye — such as the motion of blood pulsing through a person's face, or the breathing of an infant. The algorithm — which was invented almost by accident — could find applications in safety, medicine, surveillance, and other areas. 'The system is somewhat akin to the equalizer in a stereo sound system, which boosts some frequencies and cuts others, except that the pertinent frequency is the frequency of color changes in a sequence of video frames, not the frequency of an audio signal. The prototype of the software allows the user to specify the frequency range of interest and the degree of amplification. The software works in real time and displays both the original video and the altered version of the video, with changes magnified.'"

Comments

Useful for creepy movies?

[Anonymous Coward]

Wish youtube wasn't blocked at work.

Although, if this looks like what I think it looks like, I could see this having a lot of potential in the movie industry as well. Specifically enhancing things otherwise unnoticed could make for some very creepy footage.

Re:Obvious application

[BitterOak]

Privacy-violating nudity scans.

We already have technology for that: Backscatter X-ray and millimeter wave scanners. You can find them in most major airports.

Enhance!

[Bill Hayden]

n/t

Everything

[Sparticus789]

Now every recording device has the potential to become a lie detector.

Cool for Interviewers, Card Players

[mooboy]

For employers, or even police: you could easily detect emotional flushes in someone's face when asked certain questions, i.e., a lie detector of sorts. Also, think poker players with this software built into their "Google Glasses".

Re:Cool for Interviewers, Card Players

[Anonymous Coward]

I, for one, would love to see a poker tournament where all of this stuff was legal. It would have to take place on a separate circuit, but currently the top strategies are 'don't act emotional and wear dark sunglasses'. This would take things to the next level, so you might as well throw in real-time simulation outputs, probabilities, heart-rate monitors, histograms, etc, all available to each player in real time. Put a thin layer of lead paint on the backing of each card and you're good to go.

Worst Case

[TubeSteak]

to long-range-surveillance systems that magnify subtle motions, to contactless lie detection based on pulse rate.

This is the first thing they're going to do with it.
All the other applications might come afterwards.

Re:Invented?

[Bill Dimm]

I didn't RTFA or watch the video (good /.er and Flash disabled, respectively)

If you click through to the article they have HTML5 videos served from YouTube there, so there is no need for Flash. Why Slashdot is still embedding videos as Flash is a mystery to me.

Re:Oh fuck no!

[wonkey_monkey]

Yes, clearly the demonstrated ability to remotely monitor a sleeping baby's pulse and breathing will have no practical use.

adding its own bias based on naive attribution of moving areas to distinct objects? Then a human won't see important details behind things that software deemed worthy of emphasizing

This isn't AI. It's actually fairly simple image processing. It has no bias or sense or worth. Yes, it can be tuned - by a human operator who will most likely know what they want to have their attention drawn to. How important are a few pixels in the background behind a barely breathing body when you're searching for a hypothermia victim?

If the concerns you raise had any impact on a particular scenario, the operator can just use their own eyes or switch off the processing.

Re:Old

[bill_mcgonigle]

I'm unclear - are you suggesting that Slashdotters should all be reading Hack-A-Day, know the Apple App Store inside and out, or that the information is time-sensitive enough to not be worth posting today?

Uncrop!

[Sabriel]

Red Dwarf - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUFkb0d1kbU

I mean, if you're going to break the laws of physics, might as well go for broke. :)

Re:Obvious application

[interkin3tic]

I've found that cynical comments in general get modded higher than more optimistic ones. The assumption seems to be made that if you're saying something bad about something, you know what you're talking about and appear wise. Someone praising something on the other hand, that's either a shill or a naive person. I guess pessimism is contagious.

Uh, and that's dumb and we're probably all going to die somehow as a direct result of that pessimism...

Re:Old

[catmistake]

In fact, there's already a bloody iPhone app!

For the love of Pete!! Pulse oximetry is not the same thing! Will ignorance ever tire of dismissively posting wildly inaccurate information to slashdot summaries??!!