Technabob » face recognition

G.I.A. Interactive Robot Gives You Creepy Face Time

Conner Flynn — Wed, 09 May 2012 15:00:10 +0000

The G.I.A. (Gestural Interactive Automaton) is a robotic sculpture that was created by Daniel Jay Bertner. It is mounted on the wall and it is basically a projection sphere and a webcam attached to three servo-controlled articulating arms. A human face is projected onto the sphere, and that face that will watch your every move.

The face follows you around and changes its expression according to your reactions, creating interaction. Daniel wants to bridge the gap between man and machine through this process, which uses open source motion tracking and facial recognition software.

Think of it like those paintings where the eyes watch your every move and follow you. It’s like that, but better/creepier. You may very well have nightmares after you watch it watching you.

[via Engadget via Geeky-Gadgets]

SmileScan: Why Aren’t You Smiling?

Technabob — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 03:55:39 +0000

A long time ago, I worked for the Disney theme parks, and they were pretty insistent that no matter what your job was, and how unlikely it was that you’d encounter a customer, you always should have a smile on your face. After all, we were working at “the happiest place on earth,” no matter how miserable we were at our jobs. I also once had a peer at another job who always complained that I wasn’t smiling enough. I’m reasonably certain that this invention must have been created by one of these sources of pure evil from my past.

Created by Omron, the SmileScan system is designed to automatically detect the intensity of ones smile and report back on the overall quality of the facial expression. The technology monitors the corners of your mouth, how open your eyes are and other facial characteristics to boil down your smile to a score between 0 (Yellow Angry Bird) and 100 (Teri Hatcher). It even has a “smile training mode” to try and help you improve your expression.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

At first, I thought this might be useful for making digital cameras that only snap pictures once subjects are smiling, and they say it could be used for rehabilitation too. But I’m betting since the system was shown at Japan’s International Hotel and Restaurant Show, that it’s really designed for some sadistic blue suits who want to make sure their employees aren’t frowning on the job. Oh joy. Just what we need – corporate smile enforcement. That just makes me frown.

[via DigInfo.TV]

Is This Hp Webcam Racist?

Lambert Varias — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 12:33:04 +0000

Meet Desi. He’s in front of an HP MediaSmart computer, which has a fancy face tracking software that allows its webcam to follow your face within the confines of the frame. Desi may look like a happy guy, but he’s definitely not. Why?

In his words: “As soon as White Wanda appears, the camera moves. Black Desi gets in there…oh nope! No facial recognition there.”

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Desi and Wanda were right to post this on YouTube – maybe it’ll get HP to respond and fix the problem. But I think the two should have tested the software on other people too. Who knows, maybe Desi has something on him – aside from his skin color of course – that borks the software. What do you humans – regardless of gender, race, religion, or preference of computer – think?

[via CrunchGear]

Fuji F40fd: Flash Comparison and Face Recognition Camera

Technabob — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 21:25:11 +0000

Have you ever taken a photo with the flash on, only to discover the image was washed out? The Fuji FinePix F40fd digital camera lets you see a preview of your pictures with the flash both on and off.

The F40fd can take two pictures, two milliseconds apart. One photo has the flash on, while the other has the flash off. Then, the LCD viewfinder displays both images for you to choose from, side-by-side so you can choose the best one. In addition, the FinePix offers face detection that can identify up to 10 individual faces in a scene, then automatically optimize focus and exposure for the best picture. The camera also offers an image stabilization mode to eliminate blur from moving the camera or from moving subjects.

The camera offers 8.3 megapixel resolution and has a 3X optical zoom lens. It can also capture 640×480 video at 30fps. The camera has an xD/SD memory card slot for up to 2GB of storage. The FinePix F40fd can be found this Spring for around $270.