Researchers at the University of Cambridge have demonstrated a virtual "talking head" with realistic emotions, which could lead to improvements in human-computer interactions.
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The system, called Zoe, bears a striking resemblance to Holly, the ship's computer in British sci-fi comedy, Red Dwarf. It is based on a template that, in the near future, could allow people to upload their own faces and voices. Users would be able to customise and personalise their own digital assistants for a range of applications – in mobile "face messages", gaming, audio-visual books, as a means of delivering online lectures or presentations, and in various user interfaces.
Professor Roberto Cipolla, from the Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge: “This technology could be the start of a whole new generation of interfaces which make interacting with a computer much more like talking to another human being.”
As well as being more expressive than any previous system, Zoe is also remarkably data-light. The program used to run her is just tens of megabytes in size, which means that it can be easily incorporated into even the smallest computer devices, including tablets and smartphones.
It works by using a set of fundamental, “primary colour” emotions. Zoe’s voice, for example, has six basic settings – Happy, Sad, Tender, Angry, Afraid and Neutral. The user can adjust these settings to different levels, as well as altering the pitch, speed and depth of the voice itself. By combining these levels, it becomes possible to pre-set or create almost infinite emotional combinations.
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