Rooms of the future might be able to sense how you feel

Future rooms might be able to sense how you feel.
(Image credit: iStock)

Even the best poker face out there won't be able to trick a new device developed by MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Popular Science reports. The invention uses wireless signals that bounce off people's bodies to monitor information like their breathing and heart rate, and then translates that data into an understanding of what a person is feeling emotionally.

The device read emotions correctly 87 percent of the time when tested on a group of 30 people in trials, which makes it better at knowing how you feel than similar devices, such as Microsoft's Emotion API — and it doesn't use any strings or wires, or even need to see your face in order to work. The possibilities for use are endless: The tool could pick up when people are feeling depressed and change their environment's lighting or music, or give directors an idea of how focus groups are reacting to their shows or movies.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More
Jeva Lange

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.