BioStories: Dynamic multimedia environments based on real-time audience emotion assessment

Abstract

BioStories is the outcome of a four-year research project focused in uniting affective and ubiquitous computing with context aware multimedia environments real-time generation. Its initial premise was based in the possibility of performing real-time automatic emotion assessment trough online biometric channels monitoring and use this information to design on-the-fly dynamic multimedia storylines emotionally adapted, so that end users would unconsciously be determining the story graph. The emotion assessment process was based on biometric channels dynamic fusion such as EEG, GSR, respiration rate and volume, skin temperature and heart rate on top of Russell's circumplex model of affect. BioStories' broad scope also allowed for some spin-off projects namely mouse control through EMG that resulted in a tested technology for alternative/inclusive interfaces. Exhaustive experiments showed 86% of success rate for emotion assessment, IC95%(p)≈(0.81, 0.90), in a dynamic tridimensional virtual environment with an immersiveness user score of 4.3 out of 5. The success of the proposed approach allows the vision of its appliance in several domains such as virtual entertainment, videogames and cinema as well as direct marketing, digital TV and domotic appliances. © 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.