Computer scans lips to identify emotions

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SELANGOR, Malaysia, Sept. 10 (UPI) -- Teaching a computer to interpret human emotions based on lip movements could improve the way people interact with computers, researchers in Malaysia say.

Such technology could allow disabled people to use computer-based communications devices such as voice synthesizers more effectively and more efficiently, computer scientists at Manipal International University in Selangor reported in the International Journal of Artificial Intelligence and Soft Computing.

A computer algorithm uses equations involving ellipse shapes to match the shape of the human mouth displaying different emotions, they said.

"In recent years, there has been a growing interest in improving all aspects of interaction between humans and computers, especially in the area of human emotion recognition by observing facial expression," the researchers said.

Photos of individuals from Southeast Asia and Japan were used to train a computer to use lip patterns to recognize the six commonly accepted human emotions -- happiness, sadness, fear, anger, disgust, surprise -- and a neutral expression.

The algorithm has been successfully in classifying the six emotions and the neutral expression, the research team said.