The invention in this video is either very cool or very creepy, depending on your perspective. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s CSAIL lab have invented a device called “EQ Radio” that can, essentially, read your emotions. Specifically, it can spot joy, anger, sadness, and pleasure with 87 percent accuracy, according to CSAIL. EQ Radio doesn’t need a subject’s cooperation, either, since it doesn’t use on-skin sensors. It uses Wi-Fi.
EQ Radio bounces a Wi-Fi signal off a subject and extracts the heartbeat from the returning signal using an algorithm that filters out breathing and other noise. It then analyzes the heartbeat for subtle fluctuations that ultimately give away the person’s mood.
The researchers see many applications for this, of course, from more accurate film-audience surveys to advertisers’ focus groups to doctors seeking a clearer view of the emotional states of patients. Police may also want to use EQ Radio during interrogations. And a smart home could adjust lighting and music to correspond to, or counteract, its owner’s mood.
