Computer software can detect people's emotions
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Cambridge University is developing computers that can detect people’s emotions by tracking their facial expressions and speech patterns.
A team in the university’s Computer Laboratory led by Prof Peter Robinson hopes the software could improve interactions between humans and computers.
‘We’re building emotionally intelligent computers, ones that can read my mind and know how I feel,’ said Robinson.
‘Computers are really good at understanding what someone is typing or even saying. But they need to understand not just what I’m saying, but how I’m saying it.’
The researchers are collaborating closely with the university’s Autism Research Centre, whose insights into the difficulties that some people have understanding emotions are helping to address the same problems in computers.
One system tracks features on a person’s face, calculates the gestures that are being made and infers emotions from them. It gets the right answer more than 70 per cent of the time, which is as good as most human observers.
Other systems analyse speech intonation to infer emotions from the way that something is said, and analyse body posture and gestures.
Ian Davies, one of the research students in Robinson’s team, is looking at applications of these technologies in command and control systems.
‘Even in something as simple as a car we need to know if the driver is concentrating and confused, so that we can avoid overloading him with distractions from a mobile phone, the radio, or a satellite navigations system,’ he said.
Robinson wants computers to express emotions as well as understand them, whether through cartoon animations or physical robots.
PhD student Tadas Baltrušaitis, another team member, is working on animating figures to mimic a person’s facial expressions, while fellow PhD candidate Laurel Riek is experimenting with a robotic head modelled on computer pioneer Charles Babbage.
‘Charles has two dozen motors controlling “muscles” in his face, giving him a wide range of expressions,’ said Robinson.
‘We can use him to explore empathy, rapport building, and co-operation in emotional interactions between people and computers.’
