The computer program that knows how you feel

New facial analysis software has been developed that claims to be able to recognize a person's mood in an instant. It could mean the start of personalised advertising campaigns that can tell how you feel by simply looking at your face.

The 'rapid facial analysis' technology is being developed by researchers at the German Fraunhofer Institute. It uses highly complex software to find a human face in an image, work our whether the face is male or female, and then analyse their expressions.

"The special feature of our facial analysis software is that it operates in real time," says Dr. Christian Küblbeck, project manager at the IIS.

The most important facial characteristics used by the system are the contours of the face, the eyes, the eyebrows and the nose.

The system first has to go through a training phase in which it is presented with huge quantities of data containing images of faces.

The computer compares 30,000 facial characteristics with the information that it has previously learned. "On a standard PC, the calculations are carried out so quickly that mood changes can be tracked live," explains Küblbeck.

Link & Image: DailyMail
Tags: Facial Analysis | Feel | Software