Videoworks is a partner in the Miracle project, an I-Labs platform that provides research and development activities for the creation of innovative home automation solutions, aimed at making living environments comfortable and sustainable. The Miracle project is co-funded by the Marche Region ERDF program. Videoworks, within Miracle, is involved in the research and development of the MOHMI* project in the yacht sector. The goal is to develop a system to monitor a person’s emotions and use the home automation system to adapt their living environment and improve their comfort.
Creating an interface model capable of reacting to a person’s emotions and behaviour: the Miracle-MOHMI project is testing it in the yacht environment thanks to a working prototype made by Videoworks.
The “MOHMI – smart multimedia MOnitoring systems for advanced HMI technologies in living environments” project aims to develop a home automation system, equipped with emotional intelligence, which can adapt its operation to the context it is used in, therefore maximising comfort and entertainment on board yachts. This system could also be used in hotels and homes.
“Thanks to the collaboration with UNIVPM, the Polytechnic University of the Marche Region, the company has had access to a series of resources, knowledge and advanced technologies, with the aim of creating a prototype that, in the future, can become an adapted and enriched product, to meet different needs,” said Maurizio Minossi, CTO of Videoworks. “This is essential for the company because our customers are very interested in the most innovative technological solutions, in which they look for uniqueness and customisation features. We have had the opportunity to establish relationships with other companies and research institutions and this could open up new future collaborations, in addition to the current project.”
How the home automation system works
This home automation system is able to identify the user, their emotional state and the activity they are carrying out, starting from the analysis of their behaviour within the environment. It does so through a system for recognising emotions and tracking and recognising body posture, based on computer vision and machine learning algorithms that have been developed specifically for this purpose. It can gather information relating to the user (emotions and activities carried out) and the conditions of the environment (lighting, temperature), thanks to an appropriate network of cameras and sensors.
Based on the information acquired by analysing emotional states in a non-invasive way, the system is then able to modify the characteristics of the environment, in order to increase the well-being of the person and to improve the quality of the experience when interacting with the environment itself.
*MOHMI project – smart multimedia MOnitoring systems for advanced HMI technologies in living environments, project included in the Miracle project, Marche Innovation and Research for Connected and sustainable Living Environments (co-funded by the Marche Region through the ROP MARCHE ERDF 2014/2020 PRIORITY AXIS 1 – SO2 – ACTION 2.1.1 – SUPPORT FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH TECHNOLOGICAL PLATFORMS IN THE FIELDS OF SPECIALISATION).
