Analysis of human expressions could teach androids to smile

A robot’s ability to understand and display human emotion has long been a trope of science fiction stories, but new multi-institutional research has begun mapping the intricacies of human facial movements to bring this idea closer to reality.

Researchers used 125 tracking markers attached to a person’s face to closely examine 44 different singular facial actions, from blinking to raising the corner of the mouth.

Information gathered by this study could help researchers develop and improve artificial faces, both digitally on screens and, ultimately, physically for the faces of android robots. The study aimed to understand tensions and compressions in human facial structure, with the hope to allow these artificial expressions to appear more accurate and natural.

The researchers said this work could have applications beyond robotics, for improved facial recognition or medical diagnoses, for example, the latter of which currently relies on a doctor’s intuition to notice abnormalities in facial movement.