Robots could be trained to recognise human emotions, finds study

A new study published in the journal Frontiers in Robotics and AI, robots could be taught to recognise human emotions from our movements. As part of this exercise, a team of psychologists and computer scientists filmed pairs of children playing with a robot and a computer built into a table with a touchscreen top. Some participants watched the original videos. A second group saw the footage reduced to "stickman" figures that showed exactly the same movements. Members of both groups agreed on the same emotional label for the children, more often than would be expected if they were guessing. The researchers then trained a machine-learning algorithm to label the clips, identifying the type of social interaction, the emotions on display, and the strength of each child's internal state, allowing it to compare which child felt more sad or excited. The study was conducted by researchers form Warwick Business School, University of Plymouth, Donders Centre for Cognition at Radboud University in the Netherlands, and the Bristol Robotics Lab at the University of the West of England.       

Hot trends

Digital product management, anything as a Service and Shared Services 2.0 are some of the government technology trends for 2019-2020, according to Gartner, Inc. The global research and advisory company recently came out with the list of the top 10 such trends in the ongoing year which, it says, have the potential to optimise or transform public services. Government chief information officers (CIOs) should include these trends in their strategic planning over the next 12 to 18 months, advises Gartner.  "Now more than ever, technology priorities must be established in the context of business trends such as digital equity, ethics and privacy, widening generational chasms and the need for institutional agility," said Rick Howard, research vice president at Gartner.