A project to explore the questions: Which apps lead to the most stress versus the most joy? How can emotion detection augment our computer using experience?
At the SF Neurogaming Hackathon 2014, I built the application linked below for capturing a screenshot of what a user was looking at while they were smiling and then overlaid their emotional data onto an image of their face side by side with the content they were viewing at the time. This project was inspired by the idea that one day our computers will become more aware of our emotional state and this will open up the opportunity to learn more about ourselves through working with our computers.
Possible applications
- Imagine seeing a dashboard of your most emotional moments throughout the day while using your computer. Your computer could automatically show you experiences and give you breaks to keep you in a healthy state.
- Imagine a Skype call where you see the person's level of excitement/boredom via some graphical overlays so you know when you need to be more engaging or listen more intently well enough.
Results
It was possible to overlay Emotive EEG and emotion detection data onto an image and detect a user's smile as a means of logging the moment in question. The emotion detection capabilities of Emotiv at the time were quite lacking as you can see from the images below.
Technologies
OpenCV, Emotive Epoc EEG, LabVIEW
When a smile is detected, the application takes a screenshot of the page being viewed and overlays it with the image of the person smiling.
This application was a proof of concept as a means for detecting emotion and changing your interaction habits with your computer by allowing applications to change based on emotion.