Slashdot Mirror
MIT Scientists Use Radio Waves To Sense Human Emotions (cnn.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNNMoney: Researchers at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory have developed a device that uses radio waves to detect whether someone is happy, sad, angry or excited. The breakthrough makes it easier to accomplish what scientists have tried to do for years with machines: sense human emotions. The researchers believe tracking a person's feelings is a step toward improving their overall emotional well-being. The technology isn't invasive; it works in the background without a person having to do anything, like wearing a device. The device called EQ-Radio, which was detailed in a paper published online Tuesday, resembles a shoebox, as of now. It works by bouncing wireless signals off a person. These signals are impacted by motion, such as breathing and heartbeats. When the heart pumps blood, a force is exerted onto our bodies, and the skin vibrates ever so slightly. After the radio waves are impacted by these vibrations, they return to the device. A computer then analyzes the signals to identify changes in heartbeat and breathing. The researchers demonstrated their system detects emotions on par with an electrocardiogram (EKG), a common wearable device medical professionals use to monitor the human heart. The machine's analysis of the radio waves relies on artificial intelligence, which learns how various heartbeats indicate certain emotions. As a part of the testing, the machine bounced radio waves off actors who recreated a range of emotions. The more emotions the machine experienced, the better it identified what signals, such as a fast heartbeat, gave away their true feelings. By monitoring radio waves reflected off people who are happy, the machine is exposed to certain signs -- such as heart rate or a type of breathing -- associated with being in good spirits.
I guess we now have verifiable, logical reason to (keep) wear(ing) a tinfoil hat.
actors who recreated a range of emotions
their true feelings
Hmm...am I missing something?
The goal wasn't to make computers able to do something that humans can't do, but to make it do something humans can do, but which computers (so far) cannot.
Ultimately this will just be another augment to automated monitoring, for use in any place where there is benefit to knowing people's emotions but a cost associated with having a human watch them all the time.
"relies on artificial intelligence, which learns how various heartbeats indicate certain emotions"
Christ, another "AI" breakthough. We call algorithms AI now. Apparently a bunch of "if/else" statements are AI now.
Generally set apart from a sentence by an exclamation point, or by comma when the feeling's not as strong.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Ever since I can remember, I had the ability to sense electromagnetic emissions from other people to detect their emotional state. I also had an ability I call "aural telepathy" -- the ability to sense a person's thoughts by tuning in to subtle sensations such as tiny vibrations in the air.
Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
The machine can tell if someone is acting happy, sad, angry or excited.
Not quite the same as detecting if someone is really experiencing these emotions.
I bet it stops working if I wear a tinfoil suit.
If only Tin Foil was easy to find. "They" have cleverly replaced what you can easily purchase with Aluminum Foil!
We all know that is good for nothing, in stopping them from controlling your brain from afar!
(MAYBE I SHOULD HAVE USED MORE ALL CAPS WORDS? I don't know, I can't find my tinfoil hat.)
This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
Glad there's a definitive method. Sure helps when engaging in polite conversation.
I hadn't the slightest objection to his spending his time planning massacres for the bourgeoisie... (P.G. Wodehouse)
Still can't detect sarcasm /Sarcasm
I had to check my calendar to be sure.
Ever since I can remember, I had the ability to sense electromagnetic emissions from other people to detect their emotional state. I also had an ability I call "aural telepathy" -- the ability to sense a person's thoughts by tuning in to subtle sensations such as tiny vibrations in the air.
If you are serious then you might want to consider the possibility that you were born with hyper-acuity (sensitivity) to micro body language. People born with this amped up body language awareness at a conscious level can in a sense almost read peoples minds to some degree. Not through psychic like means but just through an autistic-like ability to pattern-match people's micro-body language at a level a speed and accuracy beyond what people normally perceive, or normally only perceive at a subconscious level. Someone born with this can easily end up thinking they have a psychic ability or come up with some other inaccurate explanation for what causes this, because the real ability can be highly accurate, as such it is completely understandable and not due to insanity.
I also have this ability and at the very least can easily tell when people are lying to me. I can also, with a consistently high success rate, predict how people I'm around will react to most things in at least the short term and even to a degree what they may be about to say, which has freaked out a number of people when I would say what they were about to say while looking at them but just before they said it. These days I normally just keep it to myself. Note: The consistent verifiable accuracy of my abilities precludes delusion and this ability is known of in the scientific community.
And now - for another tool to tell if you are a 'terrorist' risk ! Damn, all it takes is an RF emitter, receiver, and an AI interface - and GUESS WHAT . . . Everyone going through an airline queue gets 'sampled' - and guess how many get butt-fsked due to overly sensitive 'AI' analysis . . . . . GUESS how many false positives will crop up from stressed-out common people simply trying to get somewhere to resolve business problems ! ! ! This tech will run to the TOP of weaponizeable applications as fast as you can say 'oh, sh1t'. I'm really glad that I'm a disabled veteran who can't travel, and don't have to endure the current Orwellian paranoia that has evolved from the BASIC task assigned to the task force to prevent MASS ATTACKS via airplanes ---NOT to prevent EVERY INCIDENCE of SINGLE AIRPLANE ATTACKS ! ! ! Gotta' love the United States of Authority when they get their quasi-authorization to go ballistic WITHOUT OVERWATCH CONTROL ! ! ! Sweden and the Netherlands are looking more attractive (as an ex-pat) every year that this type of over-bearing 'big brother' process whittles away at our basic human rights. From a saddened veteran that actually fought for my right to be free - - - and left with the only freedom remaining is to leave this once glorious union. As a side note - it has now become easier and faster to drive / use a bus / travel by train than to FLY to any destination within a 500 mile radius.
redneck geek
I've seen another technology that can track eyes to measure dilation of pupils, heart rate from changes in skin color on the face, as well as breathing. A bit more to estimate body temperature from the infrared. I wonder if it is possible to measure blood pressure, not just that blood pressure falls and rises but something like those inflatable cuffs, without touching the person.
Measuring emotional response from questioning certainly has benefits for a police interrogator, especially if that detective's job is to find out if the suspect is human. I can see this as useful to quickly and easily measure a person's health. Problems with breathing while asleep would be easier with this machine. Put it at the entrance to a hospital and set certain limits on where it might flag someone for more attention. Not to replace more traditional diagnostic tools but to augment it.
If this could allow for removing some of the wires and such from a patient in a hospital and make them more comfortable. The emotional state stuff was already there before, they just automated it a bit more. Only then it was called a polygraph.
I am armed because I am free. I am free because I am armed.
They already have radar that remotely scans the nerves and brain- reading and altering the emotions, and other functions inside of us. Its been around for decades. Its patented and classified. drrobertduncan.com
Vital signs and remote diagnosis also work with it no need for this type of crazy polygraph level garbage that provides no useful Intel.
So what you're saying here is that MIT have invented a wireless polygraph. Maybe we should build a bunch of portable ones and give them out to reporters.
Devices that rely on heartbeat, breathing rhythm, sweat etc. only detect (some) emotional states with normal people, but not with psychopaths.
"The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
Devices that rely on heartbeat, breathing rhythm, sweat etc. only detect (some) emotional states with normal people, but not with psychopaths.
Or it turns out from the summary even actors can fool it.
So therefore it cannot work, because there is no such thing as AI. The piece notes that researchers proved they succeeded because the EQR (pronounced eeker?) "detects emotions on par with an electrocardiogram (EKG), a common wearable device medical professionals use to monitor the human heart". But an EKG can't detect emotions either. It can monitor the heart, that's it. Any inference of emotion is pure voodoo. The next thing you know, they'll say it performs on a par with lie detectors. Which I suspect it does. Lie detectors are proven to be a pseudoscience after all.
Your eyes work in the radio spectrum? Interesting.
Make the emotion transmitter. You know, for science reasons..
Yes, good point, and related. Psychopaths are the most "talented" actors, as they can switch empathy on and off, as required.
"The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
Greetings, citizen! Your personal stress level appears to be elevated. To ensure a more harmonious life experience and enhance your calm, please report to the nearest behavioral modification center. Thank you for your cooperation, and have a joy-joy day.
I'm sorry, but your opinion seems to be wrong.
Ultimately this will just be another augment to automated monitoring, for use in any place where there is benefit to knowing people's emotions but a cost associated with having a human watch them all the time.
Like the TSA security check points at airports?
The TSA already tries to do behavioral profiling. I could see them jumping all over this as the latest magic cure-all to make up for the incompetence of their screeners who miss 95% of the things they're supposed to be watching for.
Psychopaths are the most "talented" actors, as they can switch empathy on and off, as required.
This is incorrect. Persons with Antisocial Personality Disorder (aka psychopaths aka sociopaths) have a diminished capacity for empathy or in the most extreme cases, no capacity for empathy at all. This is not something they can control, so cannot "switch empathy on and off". The reason for this is not fully understood but if it's like schizoaffective disorders, it may be treatable.
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
We have to pay the wireless router way less in order to get quality results.
Ultimately this will just be another augment to automated monitoring, for use in any place where there is benefit to knowing people's emotions but a cost associated with having a human watch them all the time.
Like the TSA security check points at airports?
The TSA already tries to do behavioral profiling. I could see them jumping all over this as the latest magic cure-all to make up for the incompetence of their screeners who miss 95% of the things they're supposed to be watching for.
In your eagerness to point out the ineptness of the TSA, you may have missed the part where each individual's emotional responses have to be measured before subsequent emotional responses can be identified. Of course, this means it's useless for detecting the emotions of people who haven't been previously baselined, e.g., random people in a TSA screening line.
..which, by the way, is how I framed this story when *I* submitted it yesterday. How about 'credit where credit is due', BeauHD?
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
In your eagerness to dismiss my comment, you may have missed the part where the TSA is already engaged in behavioral profiling despite not having any previous baselines to compare people's behavior to. Of course this means it's useless for detecting the emotions of random people in a TSA screening line, but that hasn't stopped the TSA from putting it in place.
In your eagerness to dismiss my comment, you may have missed the part where the TSA is already engaged in behavioral profiling despite not having any previous baselines to compare people's behavior to. Of course this means it's useless for detecting the emotions of random people in a TSA screening line, but that hasn't stopped the TSA from putting it in place.
Profiling based upon observable behaviors is not remotely similar to detecting emotions base upon RF detection. One requires calibration of an individual's "signature"; the other does not. This is not to claim that the TSA's method of behavioral screening is effective compare to, say, the methods used by El Al airline screeners; in fact, the TSA's general approach to providing security theatre as opposed to genuine security pretty much predicts that it won't be effective at all.
This sounds more like the Star Trek Medical Bed.
Yay!
Hey. It learned. When you copped an attitude, it would respond with guilt tripping to the fast healing of your body being impeded. Or wait, was that the hologram doc? I can't keep the two separated in my head.
Devices that rely on heartbeat, breathing rhythm, sweat etc. only detect (some) emotional states with normal people, but not with psychopaths.
I have a subject they can test it on. If he is beaten by it, it's a world revolution product. Well, until lawsuits start flying about the unhealthy RF noise being emitted by this truth reader bot making you all cancerous and jazz.......... as said plaintiffs sit under a fluorescent light band in the court room without complaining.
This is not something they can control, so cannot "switch empathy on and off".
It's not the empathy, but the illusion of empathy that they turn on and off.
And they can do it so well that even trained professionals (e.g. psychiatrists) are routinely fooled.