29-12-2010, 12:14 PM
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INTRODUCTION
Ever think your computer might one day pester you with messages of love or take up arms in a fit of rage over your insensitivity?
If researchers at IBM’s Almaden Research Center here are to be believed, we could then soon see computers that actually know you hate them, or in turn appreciate them for a job well done.
Their initiative to make this happen: the Blue Eyes research project currently being implemented by the center’s user systems ergonomic research group (User). Blue Eyes seeks attentive computation by integrating perceptual abilities to computers wherein non-obtrusive sensing technology, such as video cameras and microphones, are used to identify and observe your actions.
As you walk by the computer screen, for example, the camera would immediately "sense" your presence and automatically turn on room lights, the television, or radio while popping up your favorite Internet website on the display.
Part of this project is not only teaching computers how to sense or perceive user action. They are also being programmed to know how users feel--depressed, ecstatic, bored, amused, or anxious--and make a corresponding response. Computers can, on their own, play a funny Flash animation feature to entertain its "master" if it notices a sad look on his or her face.
Voice or sound capabilities can also be integrated, with the computer "talking" to his user about the task at hand or simply acknowledging a command with a respectful, "yes, sir."
In these cases, the computer extracts key information, such as where the user is looking, what he or she is saying or gesturing or how the subject’s emotions are evident with a grip on the pointing device.
These cues are analyzed to determine the user’s physical, emotional, or informational state, which can be used to increase productivity. This is done by performing expected actions or by providing expected information.
Human cognition depends primarily on the ability to perceive, interpret, and integrate audio-visuals and sensoring information. Adding extraordinary perceptual abilities to computers would enable computers to work together with human beings as intimate partners.
Researchers are attempting to add more capabilities to computers that will allow them to interact like humans, recognize human presents, talk, listen, or even guess their feelings.
The Blue Eyes technology aims at creating computational machines that have perceptual and sensory ability like those of human beings. It uses non-obtrusive sensing method, employing most modern video cameras and microphones to identify the users’ actions through the use of imparted sensory abilities. The machine can understand what a user wants, where he is looking at, and even realize his physical or emotional states.
For a long time emotions have been kept out of the deliberate tools of science; scientists have expressed emotion, but no tools could sense and respond to their affective information. This paper highlights research aimed at giving computers the ability to comfortably sense, recognize and respond to the human communication of emotion, especially affective states such as frustration, confusion, interest, distress, anger and joy. Two main themes of sensing—self–report and concurrent expression—are described, together with examples of systems that give users new ways to communicate emotions to computers and, through computers, to other people. In addition to building systems that try to elicit and detect frustration, system has been developed that responds to user frustration in a way that appears to help alleviate it. This paper highlights applications of this research to interface design, wearable computing, entertainment and education and briefly presents some potential ethical concerns and how they might be addressed.
Not all computers need to “pay attention” to emotions or to have the capability to emulate emotion. Some machines are useful as rigid tools, and it is fine to keep them that way. However, there are situations in which human—computer interaction could be improved by having he computer adapt to the user, and in which communication about when, where, how and how important it is to adapt involves the use of emotional information.
N Findings of Reeves and Nass at Stanford University suggest that the interaction between human and machine is largely natural and social, indicating that factors important in human— human interaction are also important in human—computer interaction. In human—human interaction, it has been argued that skills of so—called “emotional intelligence” are more important than are traditional mathematical and verbal skills of intelligence. These skills include the ability to recognize the emotions of another and to respond appropriately to these emotions. Whether or not these particular skills are more important than certain other skills will depend on the situation and goals of the used, but what is clear is that these skills are important in human—human interaction, and when they are missing, interaction is more likely to be perceived as frustrating and not very intelligent.
Current computer input devices, particularly the common ones such as keyboards and mice, are limiting in capabilities. Interfaces should not be limited merely to the screen, which forms the intermediary between the user and the results of the computer processes. Rather, the subsidiary devices should also be brought into the equation. In a sense, computer interfaces could be seen as a ‘peer’, or as one who responds activity to user input, as a reflection and a response lf the user’s feeling and emotions, to better understand the true intensions of the user.
There are three key aspects that is important in representing the ‘emotions’ that a computer is believed to posses: automatic signals, facial expressions and behavioral manifestations. When observing human communication, studies have shown that apart from facial expressions, gestures, touch and other signs of the body language play a vita role in the communication of feelings and emotion. However one failing of the desktop PC is its inability to simulate the effect of touch. Humans are experts at interpreting facial expressions and tones of voice and making accurate interferences about others’ internal states from these clues. Controversy rages over anthromorphism: should we leverage this expertise in the service of computer interface design, since attributing human characteristic to machines often means setting unrealistic and unfulfillable expectations about the machine’s capabilities? Show a human face; expect human capabilities that far outstrip the machines? Yet the fact remains that faces have been used effectively in media to represent a wide variety of internal states. And with careful design, we regard emotional expression via face and sound as a potentially effective means of communicating a wide array of information to computer users. As system become more capable of emotional communication with users, we see systems needing more and more sophisticated emotionally— expressive capability.
Sensors, tactile or otherwise, are an integral part of an effective computing system because they provide information about the wearer’s physical state or behavior. They can gather data in a continuous way without having to interrupt the user. The emphasis here is on describing physiological sensors; however, there are many kinds of new sensors currently under development that might be useful in recognizing affective cues. (Tactile) Sensors to receive human felling as input have been progressively developing over the last few decades. Since the human brain functions communicates its emotions as electrical signals, sensitive equipment and apparatus are able to pick up these weak signals. Here, we provide a concise list of the current technology available that could be further developed as input devices for obtaining user emotional information.
TYPES OF EMOTIONAL SENSORS
Emotional mouse implemented on a real mouse. Emotion mouse developed at IBM Research Lab One proposed, non—invasive method for gaining user information through touch is via a computer input device, the mouse. This then allows the user to relate the cardiac rhythm, the body temperature, electrical conductivity of the skin and other physiological attributes with the mood. This has led to the creation of the “Emotion Mouse”. The device can measure heart rate, temperature, galvanic skin response and minute bodily movements and matches them with six emotional states: happiness, surprise, anger, fear, sadness and disgust.
The mouse includes a set of sensors, including infrared detectors and temperature-sensitive chips. These components, User researchers’ stress, will also be crafted into other commonly used items such as the office chair, the steering wheel, the keyboard and the phone handle. Integrating the system into the steering wheel, for instance, could allow an alert to be sounded when a driver becomes drowsy.
Information Obtained From Emotion Mouse:-
1) Behavior
a. Mouse movements
b. Button click frequency
c. Finger pressure when a user presses his/her button
2) Physiological information
a. Heart rate (Electrocardiogram (ECG/EKG), Photoplethysmogram (PPG))
b. Skin temperature (Thermester)
c. Skin electricity (Galvanic skin response, GSR)
d. Electromyographic activity (Electromyogram, MG)
