Face Interface
Face Interface
Principal Investigators at ASE: Prof. Jukka Lekkala
Duration of the project: 01.01.2007 - 31.12.2010
Description of the project:
In the Face Interface project the aim was to develop wireless, non-invasive technologies for measuring gaze direction and facial activity in different human-computer interaction tasks, for example, typing and Web browsing. The project started in January 2007 and ended in December 2010. It was funded by the Academy of Finland.
The developed new type of a user interface utilizes novel, light-weight, wireless technology to apply the activity of facial muscles and video-based tracking of eye movements in human-computer interaction. The interface enables new type of studies on human-computer interaction utilizing the facial activity normally used for communicating facial expressions and emotions in human-human interaction.
Results of the project:
In the project, our research focused on developing the hardware for the wireless, non-invasive human-computer interaction technologies. The most significant single contribution was the introduction of a capacitive detection method to detect facial movements for human-computer interaction. Prototype for detecting forehead movements, i.e. frowning and lifting eyebrows that are caused by the muscles Corrugator supercilii and Frontalis, was designed and constructed. The same facial movement measurement was also integrated into a prototype that had two cameras for video-based gaze tracking. After the initial wired prototype, two generations of wireless prototypes were made, and the facial movement detection was applied in measuring the movements of additional muscles, e.g. Zygomaticus major that is responsible for smiling.
List of references:
V. Rantanen, P.-H. Niemenlehto, J. Verho, and J. Lekkala, “Capacitive facial movement detection for human-computer interaction to click by frowning and lifting eyebrows,” Medical and Biological Engineering and Computing, vol. 48, no. 1, pp. 39–47, 2010.
Funding: Academy of Finland
Personnel at ASE:
Jukka Lekkala, Ville Rantanen, Antti Vehkaoja, Jarmo Verho, Jarkko Mäkiranta
Cooperation organizations and units:
- Research Group for Emotions Sociality and Computing, Tampere Unit for Computer–Human Interaction (TAUCHI), School of Information Sciences, University of Tampere, Tampere.
- Data Analysis Research Group, School of Information Sciences, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland.
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Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tampere University of Technology, Tampere, Finland.