Affectiva to Help Robots 'Understand' Human Emotions

Affectiva, in its capacity as a specialist in 'artificial emotion intelligence' (Emotion AI) has teamed up with humanoid robotics developer SoftBank, to give robots more human-like interactions with people.

Running in real-time, Affectiva's Emotion AI analyses facial and vocal expressions to go beyond identifying basic human emotions such as joy, anger and surprise - it promises to detect more complex cognitive states and expressions such as distraction or drowsiness; and can differentiate between a smile and a smirk.

Through the partnership, Affectiva's Emotion AI will be integrated into SoftBank's humanoid robot 'Pepper', which is used to interact with customers in retail stores, hotels, banks and other settings that require a concierge. Already equipped with cameras, microphones and loudspeakers than help identify emotions based on facial and vocal cues, Pepper will now use Affectiva's Emotion AI to adapt its behavior based on an understanding of people's emotional and cognitive states.

Rana el Kaliouby, co-founder and CEO of Affectiva, comments: 'As robots take on increasingly interactive roles with humans in many corners of society, there's a critical need for us to foster a deeper understanding and mutual trust between people and robots. Just as people interact with one another based on social and emotional cues, robots need to have that same social awareness in order to truly be effective as co-workers or companions'.

Web sites: www.affectiva.com and www.softbankrobotics.com .