New Computer Vision System for the Analysis of Human Behavior

A consortium of European researchers, coordinated by the Computer Vision Centre (CVC) of Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), has developed HERMES, a cognitive computational system consisting of video cameras and software able to recognise and predict human behaviour, as well as describe it in natural language. The applications of the Hermes project are numerous and can be used in the fields of intelligent surveillance, protection of accidents, marketing, psychology, etc.

HERMES (Human Expressive Graphic Representation of Motion and their Evaluation in Sequences) analyses human behaviour based on video sequences captured at three different focus levels: the individual as a relatively distant object; the individual’s body at medium length so as to be able to analyse body postures; and the individual’s face, which allows a detailed study of facial expressions. The information obtained is processed by computer vision and artificial intelligence algorithms, which permits the system to learn and recognise movement patterns.

HERMES offers two important innovations in the field of computer vision. The first is the description of in natural language movement captured by the cameras, through simple and precise phrases which appear on the computer screen in real time, together with the frame number in which the action is taking place. The system uses an avatar to talk and describe this information in different languages. The second innovation is the possibility to analyse and discover potentially unusual behaviour — based on the movements it recognises — and give off warning signals. For example, HERMES sends a signal to the control centre of an underground station after capturing the image of someone trying to cross the tracks, or alerts a medical centre if an elderly person living alone falls.

Seven different sub-projects have been developed by researchers working on the HERMES project:

Read more . . .

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Tags: Analysis of Human Behavior, computer vision system, facial expressions, hermes project, human behaviour, intelligence algorithms, intelligent surveillance

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 24th, 2010 at 9:08 am and is filed under 5 Years Out, Consider This, Cutting-edge Research, Innovation, Need to Know, Robotics, Science Digest / Science Daily, Shape of Things to Come?, disruptive innovation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.