dbs@speech2.cs.cmu.edu (David Sanner) (11/03/90)
hey there,
recently, folks have been posting about various devices for increased
data input. it seems to me that humans use an awful lot of
information from each others physical bodies, e.g. body language. the
data suit/gloves/eye-trackers cover most of the useful areas, but one major
source of information/muscle grouping goes untapped: the face!
body language, and in particular facial gestures, seem to convey an
awful lot of "extra" information that can help us define the context of
converstation, for example. i propose then, the DATAMASK(tm)(of course ;-)
this acts like a data glove, but is able to translate the activation levels
of facial muscles into a stream of data.
any thoughts?
... dave sanner
dbs@speech2.cs.cmu.edu sobiloff@acc.stolaf.edu (Chrome Cboy) (11/05/90)
In article <10521@milton.u.washington.edu> dbs@speech2.cs.cmu.edu (David Sanner) writes: > body language, and in particular facial gestures, seem to convey an > awful lot of "extra" information that can help us define the context of > converstation, for example. i propose then, the DATAMASK(tm)(of course ;-) > this acts like a data glove, but is able to translate the activation levels > of facial muscles into a stream of data. > any thoughts? The Media Lab played with this concept a number of years ago (1979 was when the project received funding from DARPA). They had a conference room with plastic faces for individuals that were at remote sites. The faces were actually molded faces of a video tube which displayed a picture of a remote individual. Thus, individuals at remote sites had a camara pointed at their face which transmitted their facial gestures to remote sites, and were surrounded by plastic faces of the other individuals they were conferencing with. Nicholas Negroponte claims that the effect was incredibly realistic, but that business thought it was too frivolous. It also seems that the rock group, "Talking Heads," took their name from this project, and that the cover art on their first album was done by students at MIT who were working on the Talking Faces project and who had demo'd the system for the band. -- ______________ _______________________________________________________/ Chrome C'Boy \_________ | "One of the biggest obstacles to the future of computing is C. C is the last | | attempt of the high priesthood to control the computing business. It's like | | the scribe and the Pharisees who did not want the masses to learn how to | | read and write." -Jerry Pournelle |
rnm@uunet.UU.NET (Robert Marsanyi) (11/08/90)
re: facial data capture - it seems to me this information is mostly useful to convey expression to another human being visually. Hence, just conveying an image of someone's face will do, no muscle-sensing or other contortive stuff required. --rbt