EmoSense

Introducing EmoSense: Revolutionising Real-Time Emotion Recognition in Extended Reality

EmoSense is an innovative solution developed by the REVEAL Centre at the University of Bath, designed to enhance Extended Reality (XR) experiences through advanced emotion recognition technology. By analysing neurophysiological signals, EmoSense estimates the emotions of the user. This empowers XR developers to adapt virtual environments to users’ emotional states in real-time to create a more engaging and personalised experience.

Key Features:

• Real-Time Emotion Detection: EmoSense gathers user data through physiological sensors such as pupillometry, heart rate, electrodermal activity, facial expressions, and more during XR use. EmoSense is regularly updated to support more devices, from consumer wearables to neurological lab equipment.
• Real-Time Data Cleaning: EmoSense uses data cleaning techniques to filter out external influences such as light, sweat, and movement, enabling a more accurate and reliable interpretation of the sensor data. It therefore, removes noise and artifacts from sensor measures in real-time. EmoSense can work accurately for even high-intensity use cases such as XR exergaming.
• Comprehensive SDK: EmoSense determines emotions in terms of categories such as joy, fear, and boredom, as well as along the psychological dimensions of valence and arousal. It therefore, provides developers and researchers with tools to accurately measure emotional responses and to integrate emotion-responsive features into XR applications, promoting innovative XR solutions.

Applications:

• Personalised Gaming: Can be used to tailor gaming experiences based on emotional feedback, enhancing user satisfaction and engagement. As users adapt to situations developing around them, so should their interactions with the environment. EmoSense helps you identify cases where the user experience needs adjusting, and empowers you to optimise it in real time.
• Therapeutic Interventions: Make experiences emotionally intelligent by adapting them to the emotional needs of an individual. EmoSense helps you identify what works for your user and what doesn’t, enabling you to put them at the centre of the experience. EmoSense, therefore, supports mental health treatments by creating immersive experiences that respond to emotional cues, facilitating therapeutic engagement.
• Research and Development: EmoSense is a powerful tool for studying human emotions and gaining a deeper understanding of people, supporting setups ranging from simple wearable sensors in the field to complex lab experiments. Moreover, it helps designers test and improve a product’s user experience. As such, it offers a robust platform for studying emotions in XR, contributing to advancements in Human-Computer Interaction, Psychology, Sports and Exercise Science, Health, Engineering and Art.

For more information or to access an evaluation license to integrate the EmoSense SDK in your own project, please contact us.

EmoSense has been recognised as an excellent innovation by the European Commission’s Innovation Radar. The research behind EmoSense has won two awards at ACM CHI, the premier forum for Human-Computer Interaction research. Check out some of our award-winning research below:

1. Sweating the Details: Emotion Recognition and the Influence of Physical Exertion in Virtual Reality Exergaming (CHI 2024)

2. Affect Recognition Using Psychophysiological Correlates in High Intensity VR Exergaming (CHI 2020)