Teaching Computers Human Emotions

In the future, the computers that we interact with might be able to tell how we're feeling - and that could improve the experience of communicating with a machine.
             
These researchers at Cambridge University in England trying teach computers to recognize our emotions - this driving simulator is measuring stress and how that effects our facial expressions.
            
Ian Davies, a researcher in Affective Computing, says if the driver is overloaded, the car's computer could decide to minimize distractions.
             
[Ian Davies, University of Cambridge]:             
"If you are a driver and you are very stressed and you are overloaded with busy traffic and bad weather, maybe it would be a bad idea to let your phone ring. Maybe it would be a good idea to prevent you phone from ringing and alert you later that somebody tried to call you." 
           
But comunication is a two way street so the team want computers to be able to talk back with the same emotional awareness.
            
Tadas Baltrusaitis is developing a virtual persona for computer users to communicate with - one you can get along with.             

[Tadas Baltrusaitis, University of Cambridge]:          
"If you come up to an information desk, instead of having a real person sitting there you could ask a virtual character for directions and if the virtual character responds to your emotional cues and responds emotionally themselves, if they smile or if they look embarrassed if they don't know something, then that might improve your whole experience."
            
But the sympathetic face of computing might not be virtual.
            
Meet Charles - a robot who's sensitive to how you feel.
            
Laurel Riek says they are basically trying to embue computers with social intelligence. 
           
[Laurel Riek, University of CAmbridge]:  
"If you can imagine having a mobility aid in your home that picks you up and carries you to another room or something that helps you brush your teeth if you have become paralyzed or are unable to move your arms, umm, -- facilitating that kind of knowledge and understanding is really important for lots of populations of people." 
           
The team say they are making progress but admit that the more subtle an expressions or gesture is, the more difficult it will be for a computer to recognize it.             

Welcome to our world, computers.