Computer algorithms can help determine what media messages we see. They help analyze what we think of it. But how smart are these artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms? And are they creative? Can AI create an actual Eurovision song? These were some of the questions and topics raised at the Cross Media Café, which is an initiative of Media Perspectives and The Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision. At this interesting event, we were asked to give a talk about our online emotion analysis platform, FaceReader Online. In this blog post, we would like to share some of the interesting insights that we heard and shared (see also in Dutch this Media Perspectives blog post).

Last year we received an innovation grant from INNOLABS, for our project H2A2 – A Healthy Heart with Automated Assistance – to create an unobtrusive health monitoring tool. With an innovative technique, called remote photoplethysmography (remote PPG), heart rate can be detected from the face. This functionality is already available in FaceReader. Since this technique requires high quality recordings, we wanted to test whether it is also accurate when the camera of a mobile device was used. Together with our partner PLUX, a Portuguese company specialized in advanced biosignals monitoring platforms, and a Portuguese telecommunication company IT, we collected physiological ground truth data and video recordings from a tablet. This data can validate the heart rate assessment and emotion classification on a mobile device.

The retail sector is changing rapidly with offline and online changes and new available technologies. In the Future-Proof Retail project, a collaboration of more than 20 partners, retailers and students explore the question of how retailers can be ready for the future. TMO fashion business school organized HYPE labs in Delft and Rijswijk to investigate the 21st century skill of employees. For 3 weeks in April, 12 different stores tested 7 different technologies: such as NFC tags, robotic assistance, VR-glasses, and Vicar Analytics (see video impression). Vicar Analytics was installed in a large Albert Heijn supermarket in Rijswijk and two clothing stores in Delft.

Last month we were invited to give a demonstration of our facial recognition software at an event of the Amsterdam municipality. This broad and inspiring conference “Smart City Smart Finance – Smart People” focused on innovative practices relating to people and technology. There were several interesting presentations with original perspectives: from what we can learn about management from orchestra conductor Jules van Hessen, to why it is so difficult to change your behavior by bestselling author Ben Tiggelaar. There were also interesting demonstrations, for example, you could immerse yourself in a 4d film experience and interact with a large selection of robots.

Last Sunday, a very interesting Dutch documentary “Game of Phones” was aired on the public broadcasting channel. This documentary dealt with how the smartphone appears to turn life into one big game. Where do we see this gamification and what are the consequences? This topic was illustrated from different angles, for example, you see teenagers explaining the social rules in tagging friends on social media, or an Uber driver giving tips on how to get the best scores.