A fuzzy processor based distributed system for implementing affective human-computer interfaces

Affective computing has been proposed to enable forms of social interaction between humans and computers by providing computers with the means to recognize human emotions and to enrich their responses with human-like emotions. Among the advantages that are expected from developing computers with affective capabilities is detecting stress conditions of humans involved in system control to activate suitable recovery procedures. Aim of the paper is to propose a prototypical distributed system consisting of two cooperating electronic boards, each provided with the fuzzy processor ST52F13 by ST Microelectronics, to demonstrate that affective computing may be applied at excellent performances and low costs in all the cases where human behavior has to be monitored to verify that humans are accomplishing a task involving the use of PCs with the needed attention and time-reactions. © 2004 IEEE