Google's Project Gameface lets users configure various commands based on facial expressions. — AFP Relaxnews
Google has announced that the code for Project Gameface, its hands-free cursor management solution, where you control what happens on screen using facial expressions, is now available to Android developers. This will enable the project to move up a gear and soon see its first practical uses.
The idea is to help people with disabilities use their smartphones hands-free, simply through facial expressions. Google has developed a technology that enables users to manipulate the cursor on their smartphone, whether to open an application or write a message using the on-screen keyboard.
By making the code for Project Gameface available to developers, Google hopes that many mobile applications will become more accessible to people with disabilities. Developers can now create applications in which users are free to configure their experience by tailoring it to their facial expressions. For example, they can open their mouths to move the cursor, or raise their eyebrows to click.
The technology relies on the device's camera tracking head movements and facial expressions, then translating them into intuitive, personalized commands. Each user should be able to configure their own experience, according to their level of mobility and interaction.
The aim is to extend this technology to worlds other than gaming. Indeed, the project was inspired by a quadriplegic video game streamer, Lance Carr, who lives with muscular dystrophy, and who has been working with Google engineers to implement this new technology, initially on desktop computers. – AFP Relaxnews
