"Superpower Glass" Helps Kids With Autism Understand Emotions

[Judi Lynn]

A new Stanford-designed technology pairs Google Glass with a face-identifying AI app that tells wearers what emotions they’re seeing



A child tests the Superpower Glass. (Stanford)

By Emily Matchar
smithsonian.com
August 21, 2018

People with autism often struggle with understanding what others are thinking or feeling. Decoding facial expressions can be especially tricky. Is that smile a genuine grin of delight, or a tight grimace of politeness? Does that wrinkled brow mean anger, or just concentration? When you can’t understand the messages on other people’s faces, it’s hard to engage socially. Children with autism are therefore often left out of the group interactions so critical to development.

Now, Stanford researchers say they have a possible new aid: Google Glass. They’ve combined the augmented reality glasses with an app that uses artificial intelligence to identify faces and facial expressions in a child’s field of vision, then shows the child an emoji of the correct expression.

“Children with autism unanimously struggle to engage their social world,” says Dennis Wall, a professor of pediatrics and biomedical data science at the Stanford University School of Medicine, who led the research. “They don’t make face contact, and they don’t really understand the emotional differences that are exhibited in the faces. These are the two primary deficits that a lot of the behavioral therapy focuses on today.”

Intensive behavioral therapy—working one-on-one with a therapist, teacher or caregiver, to increase skills, including social skills—is helpful for many kids with autism. The problem is, Wall explains, that there are too many kids with autism and too few trained therapy providers, leaving many children languishing on wait lists. The earlier the intervention, the more successful it’s likely to be. But many children can’t get into early intervention therapy, which would ideally start as young as early toddlerhood, because of wait lists, lack of insurance or a late age of diagnosis.

Read more: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/superpower-glass-helps-kids-autism-understand-emotions-180970080/#42i1iCWUKh18WaWJ.99

[TrogL]

1. I want one

I figure when water is leaking it’s “sad” but happy shouting frightens me because I can’t distinguish it from anger.