Any video gamer has been there before – palms are sweaty, heart is racing, suddenly you’re breathing just a little bit heavier as the action on the screen in front of you reaches a climactic moment. But what if your video game console could recognize these signs of emotion – and respond? With TI technology, what started as that simple question has turned into a full-fledged research project at Stanford University.
“The idea is to be able to build a game that is tunable, so you will be able to make the game more exciting if the player gets bored or tone it down for children if the parents are becoming concerned that they are getting a little too focused on the game,” said Corey McCall, a third year PhD student at Stanford University.
Just about a year ago, Corey started his research focusing on video game controllers held in the hands of players. He replaced the back of a controller with a custom 3D printed back and loaded it with TI technology that can measure heart rate, respiration rate and hand movement among other physiological parameters.
“Emotions start in the brain, but are expressed in the autonomic nervous system that affects other bodily systems. So when you get excited, you may take faster or deeper breaths, or your heart rate and blood pressure may increase,” said Corey.
Watch this video from Stanford University to find out more about the emotion sensing video game controller:
(Please visit the site to view this video)
Besides the technology the team used, like the AFE4400 integrated analog front end for heart rate monitors and low cost pulse oximeters, and the ADS1292 complete low power integrated analog front end for electrocardiogram (ECG) applications, TI worked with the Stanford team on the overall research.
“We had weekly calls for almost six months combining all of our experiences with circuit design for sensing biological signals, trying to get the first prototype ready for CES2014 tradeshow. The demonstration garnered the interest of quite a few potential smartphone and gaming device customers,” said Karthik Soundarapandian, segment manager for TI health and fitness.
The first generation prototype of the emotion sensing game controller is now complete. Corey and his team continue to work on perfecting the algorithms before bringing in 20-40 test subjects to take clinical grade measurements to fully understand how the body changes while playing a video game.
“This is very exploratory work not really done at this level and scale. We hope to provide better and more data to the research community,” said Corey.
The potential implications of this technology extend far beyond video gaming. The same technology could be used for anything people operate, including a steering wheel, joystick or yoke, from cranes to airplanes. If a system can detect when a person operating heavy machinery is stressed, sleepy or sick, it might be able to respond in a way to prevent accidents and save lives.
“If you can measure a person’s vitals through those controls with no straps or probes and no change in work flow, there is huge potential,” said Greg Kovacs, Professor of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University. Corey is a student in Prof. Kovacs’ lab.
While the research is promising, emotion sensing game controllers are still a few years away from being in our hands – unless you’re Corey McCall.
“This is a fun project. You could get a Ph.D. and work on very complicated and theoretical projects that may not come to market for a very long time. Something like this is very interesting and can be applied to real world problems in the immediate future, within the next few years,” said Corey. “The technology is there. A prototype is on my desk. So that is very cool.”
His work has already grabbed the attention of many, including articles from the NY Times Bits Blog and PC Magazine.