EQ Radio

Science: What if I could make an educated guess on how you’re feeling? Sounds easy right? Just look at stuff like your expression and body language and just call an emotion? However, sometimes it is much harder than that. Researches at MIT have created a new system called an EQ radio. This device can predict people’s emotions with an 87% accuracy rate. The EQ radio is smaller than a wifi router. Imagine that! It monitors a person’s breathing and heartbeat wirelessly. This can all happen thanks to the low frequency radio waves that the radio emits. Then, waves are captured, separated and then these measurements are inserted into an algorithm and the person’s emotions are classified as excited, happy, angry or sad.

Society: The EQ radio is innovative because there is no need for the person being monitored to talk or emote for it to figure out how they are feeling. This can be useful in many ways. One potential use of the device is to recognize depression even before the person does. This can be extremely impactful in the process of getting help for the person’s emotional needs. Another potential use is applying them into “smart” homes, where the music played on the speakers are fine tuned to how the person is feeling. It can also help give live feedback to filmmakers while the audience watches their work. These are a few of the ways the device can be applied into the real world.

Self: I think that this device is truly amazing. Emotions are much deeper than just what we show. Sometimes we hide how we feel, sometimes we wish we could get help about how we felt and sometimes we don’t even know how we feel. A device like the EQ radio can really help people with their emotions. Whether that’s figuring out what it is or getting to an emotional problem before the person realizes it themselves. I hope to try out this one day myself!

Citations

Murnane, K. (2016, September 20). Scientists Can Use WiFi To Read Your Emotions. Retrieved October 13, 2016, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinmurnane/2016/09/20/mits-csail-lab-creates-a-system-that-identifies-peoples-emotions-using-wireless-signals/#1b3366cb668d

Gent, E. (2016, October 4). Device Can Read Emotions By Bouncing Wireless Signals Off Your Body. Retrieved October 13, 2016, from http://www.livescience.com/56373-device-uses-wireless-signals-to-read-emotions.html

Poker face no more: MIT unveils device that reads human emotions (VIDEO, POLL). (2016, September 22). Retrieved October 13, 2016, from https://www.rt.com/viral/360226-emotions-mit-research-science/