New Smileometer

[Mulboyne]

Japan Times: Smiles get ratings with Omron tech
Omron Corp. said Wednesday it has developed technology that can quantify how much people are laughing by scanning their facial images. The technology, which can be used in digital cameras and cameras in mobile phones, may "help take a picture of your best smile, and can also check your smile if you work in the services industry," the equipment maker said...Omron's system can check some 30 items, including eyes and mouths, when scanning facial images. It also examines the features of a smile, including wrinkles and how much the edges of the mouth are lifted, and gives a smile a rating between 0 and 100 percent...more...

[Mulboyne]

[Charles]

Reminds me of a math paper I read, someone wanted to calculate the odds of someone blinking while taking a group photo. The larger the group, the higher odds someone would just happen to blink as the photo was taken. So he calculated a formula of how many shots you'd have to take, on average for each group size, in order to assure you had at least one good shot with everyone's eyes open. I wish I could remember the formula, but I vaguely recall that even for small groups like a dozen people, you'd have to take 6 or 7 shots to insure one good shot.

[Mulboyne]

Mainichi: Firm releases device to measure users' smiles

Omron Corp. has released a device that measures the level of users' smiles in real time, saying it will be useful in the hospitality industry and for medical rehabilitation. According to Omron, the device, called "Smile Scan," evaluates 30 facial parts of users with its camera -- including how the eyes and mouth are open and the shapes of the eye area and wrinkles -- and displays the level of their smiles in percentage terms. The bigger the smile, the larger the figure. Portraits don't have to be registered in advance. The Smile Scan also offers a "Training Mode," in which users can practice their smiles. A maximum number of 300 individual faces can be registered and 30 still images of their "best smile" can be saved for each person. The equipment is also mounted with a game function, in which two people can compete with their smiles. Omron says the Smile Scan will be useful for a variety of purposes, including hospitality training at department stores and the food-service industry, and medical rehabilitation for patients. Omron, which started face-recognition technology development in 1995, sells its products to digital camera manufacturers. It started to develop its automatic smile measuring technology in 2007. The Smile Scan is priced between 300,000 and 600,000 yen, including setup fees.

[Mulboyne]

Asahi: JR West aims to please with smiles

In an effort to lift its image, West Japan Railway Co. has instructed its station attendants to brighten their welcomes with the help of a "smile-checking" device. Omron Corp.'s Smile Scan uses a camera to scan an attendant's face, then display the image and evaluate how much movement is seen in the corners of the eyes and lips. The 300,000-yen device rates each smile out of 100 by checking it against an Omron database of images of more than a million faces. JR West introduced the machine in late March at its Osaka and Kyobashi stations. Mayumi Matsubara, a 30-year-old attendant at Kyobashi Station, said, "Some customers feel cross if I give them too big a smile. A 70-percent smile is sometimes appropriate."

[IkemenTommy]

Now someone needs to successfully market the Give-A-Fuck-O-Meter (tm).

[IkemenTommy]

Omron's smileometer made one of the 2009 Time's Worst Inventions

The Smile Police
Employees at Keihin Electric Express Railway in Japan have their smiles scanned by software to maximize cheerines

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1934027_1934004,00.html#ixzz0XDutgcQ9

[BO-SENSEI]

The 300,000-yen device rates each smile out of 100 by checking it against an Omron database of images of more than a million faces.

Nice to see they invest their money wisely in these tough times.

[Samurai_Jerk]

Nice to see they invest their money wisely in these tough times.

Is that a lot of money?

[Christoff]

Omron's smileometer made one of the 2009 Time's Worst Inventions

I love how it came in first over "The Jane Austen Monster Mashup Novel
It started with Pride and Prejudice and Zombies."

[BO-SENSEI]

Is that a lot of money?

No but don't you think it was certainly a waste?

[Samurai_Jerk]

No but don't you think it was certainly a waste?

That's peanuts for a rail company.