“It’s our duty to positively shape digitalization”

On November 29, 2017, the Fraunhofer Day of Artificial Intelligence took place in Berlin. The Fraunhofer ICT Group who organized the event, had invited scientists, politicians and representatives from industry as well as other interested parties to key note speeches and industry workshops. Prof. Albert Heuberger, executive director of Fraunhofer IIS, held a presentation on affective computing in which he talked about new sensor systems at man/machine interfaces.

Prof. Albert Heuberger: “Affective computing is the development of man/machine interfaces that interact with humans by registering and evaluating gestures, facial expressions, voice and body language. This is useful for the development of service robots or to assist people with cognitive impairments, for example.

Artificial intelligence enables computers to take decisions and to interact. It’s our job to shape these processes and design them in such a way that we benefit from them. We see it as our duty to positively shape the transformation that ensues from increasing digitalization.”

Click here to watch a film about the Day of Artificial Intelligence. From minute 1:46, Sebastian Hettenkofer from Fraunhofer IIS describes facial expression analysis in the field of affective computing.