Japanese Debut "Smile Meter"

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Japan has always been known for its quirky electronics, and a new device by Japanese electronics and health care company Omron Corp. does not disappoint. Known as "Okao Catch," which means "face catch," the device analyzes the curves of the lips, eye movement and other facial characteristics to decide how much a person is smiling using data collected from a million people and their smiles. In a demonstration, a camcorder took videos of journalists covering the announcement. Percentage numbers indicating how much each person was smiling popped up in bold blue letters next to their faces on a monitor, flashing higher or lower as their expressions changed.

According to Yasushi Kawamoto of Omron, the company hopes to use its technology in the medical field, to assess the emotional state of patients. Okao Catch can also be useful for people who want to perfect their smiles, or for robot communication to make it easier for machines to decipher human reactions

View: Full Story at SiliconValley.com

#1 toadeater on 10 Apr 2008 - 23:28

Japanese people must be bored or something.

(1 reply) #2 Nose Nuggets on 11 Apr 2008 - 00:15

people pay money for this....

i suppose the camera can see smiling better then i can. or so it seems.

#2.1 TheNay on 11 Apr 2008 - 02:23

People are stupid, just like the morons who text 55555 or sum random # to get a joke at $2 a day, it's beyond me where these people know what money is and where it shoud be spent, or shall I say, saved, which most people don't know the meaning of, lol!

#3 Shadrack on 11 Apr 2008 - 13:39

^-- wow

. This is a good idea with a lot of applications. Especially in robotics, as the article has suggested. For instance, if I were a politician or some kind of speech giver this would be a very objective way to rate my performance depending on the kind of speech i was giving.

(1 reply) #4 4tehlulz on 11 Apr 2008 - 13:40

Oh dear God. Keep the marketers away from this.

#4.1 rpgfan on 12 Apr 2008 - 03:26

(4tehlulz said @ #4)

Who cares about the marketers!? If this catches on with celebrities, the marketers won't matter! "I want my smile to be as pleasing as the smile of *celeb*, so I'll use this smile meter!"

Oh, and with celebs, it may help them perfect their smiles, making them nearly irresistible. Then in 10 years we'll wonder what made girls so crazy-looking and realize, "The smile meter! Blasted celebrities!

#5 Tzimisce on 13 Apr 2008 - 20:25

if you think about it, the japanese have these 'quirky' electronics, most other people have boring ones. I think i would rather have quirky ones

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