Emotion recognition software knows you want ice cream

Dutch researchers Theo Gevers and Nicu Sebe, known mostly for their work deciphering the Mona Lisa's smile, have created a face recognition system which can gauge a person's level of happiness. The scientists, working with the multinational goods-manufacturer Unilever, created a face-tracking algorithm which maps video of a subject's face into 3D regions, and then uses those regions to determine their level of pleasure. The tests followed European women's reactions to eating five different foods: vanilla ice cream, chocolate, cereal bars, yogurt and apples. Unsurprisingly, the scientists discovered that women enjoyed eating ice cream and chocolate far more than an apple or yogurt -- the latter even evoking "sad" expressions from 28% of test subjects. Unilever hopes to put the technology to work in creating products such as reduced-fat ice creams which elicit the same response as their full-fat counterparts, while the researchers will be launching a consumer version of the software sometime in August, as well as a website to analyze up to 1,000 user-provided photos daily.

[Ivan Lin @ Jul 16th 2007 10:49AM]

The face look so uglily.

[Grandalf @ Jul 16th 2007 10:55AM]

Finally a way to decipher women's expressions!

[NHAnimator @ Jul 16th 2007 11:02AM]

Sorry. There is no processor complex enough for that.

[Jonathan Keim @ Jul 16th 2007 11:07AM]

Apparently there is, or they are just developing software for a computer made in the next millenium.

[John Doe @ Jul 16th 2007 11:04AM]

what shall we call this...
hmmm
how about
The Emotion Engine!

[daedalus @ Jul 16th 2007 11:12AM]

::throws tomatoes::

[Botox @ Jul 16th 2007 11:23AM]

I can totally use this at my weekly (weakly?) Poker games.

[Lee @ Jul 16th 2007 11:54AM]

"Unilever hopes to put the technology to work in creating products such as reduced-fat ice creams" .... Couldn't they just ask the people? They are spending millions of dollars on this when all they have to ask is "Ma'am, did you like the ice cream?"

Silly Dutch.

[Dave @ Jul 16th 2007 11:57AM]

The important aspect of this news clip is that chocolate and ice cream makes women happy. Conversely, women who eat too much chocolate and ice cream make men sad.

[EDomain @ Jul 16th 2007 12:02PM]

I don't know how, and I don't know when, but that thing is going to be bad news sooner or later. If I look at something and it reminds me of Master Control from Tron, you just know it's bad news.

[Andrew @ Jul 16th 2007 12:58PM]

Whats up with the GUI in that program. "Hint: Keep your face frontal." My face is always frontal thank you! Also would the program cause a positive feedback if the "surprise" value was surprisingly high? Recursion on an emotional level. Me is happy!

[Goemon4 @ Jul 16th 2007 1:04PM]

i dont need no software to know when i want ice cream *eats a spoon full of it*

[Adam K @ Jul 16th 2007 1:48PM]

This really could have a lot of application in retail stores. Imagine how the store owners could rearrange things to get the best response out of people when they arrive. Also, analyzing people's faces after dealing with a store employee could help a manager see who needs to improve their people skills and who's doing a good job making customers happy.

[John @ Jul 16th 2007 2:35PM]

I think the real application of this software would be at airports - "You must be this happy to ride the plane"

[Rohit Kapur @ Jul 16th 2007 3:00PM]

So now we have. . . "Emo" softwares?

;-)

[Alex K @ Jul 16th 2007 5:09PM]

Who doesn't want ice cream? The software is programmed to always say yes.

[Wwhat @ Jul 16th 2007 5:41PM]

Typically this kind of research is guaranteed to be misused to check if a person is unhappy via CCTV and then have the weasels track that person all over the place, or equally worse to watch unsuspecting customers to see how they react to stuff.
I think it's nasty.
Seems researchers truly never learn to think ahead, especially if money exchanges hands.

[Rainier @ Jul 16th 2007 6:21PM]

Lieutenant Dan....ice creeeammm!!!!

[Zzephyr @ Jul 16th 2007 7:30PM]

Yo! I am waiting for the one that measures sexual interest. I'll buy that one, yes sirree.

[shoppingbasket @ Jul 17th 2007 4:23AM]

Ah whoever said there was no science to marketing! Practical applications for this technology in the market research field may not be so far off, notably where subjects may not be fully conscious of their own reactions, or where they may try to hide their expression perhaps due to embarrassment. Topic picked up at: http://shoppingbasket.wordpress.com/2007/07/16/unilever-analyses-the-ice-cream-smile/