Scientists Create Glasses that Display Fake Emotions [Video]

Scientists from Japan unveiled the AgencyGlass, a device for people who are too tired to show their emotions.

The latest addition in the wearable electronics segment is capable of displaying emotions such as happiness, anger and even boredom.

AgencyGlass could be a boon for students attending boring lectures and professionals working in the service industry. The goggles sense when a person is feeling sleepy or bored and display delight or wakefulness. The eyes on the display even change directions depending on the movement of the wearer's head.

The weird-looking goggles were developed by Dr. Hirotaka Osawa from Tsukuba University, in Japan.

According to Osawa, the AgencyGlass frees people of "emotional labor," IEEE Spectrum reported.

 By wearing the cyborg goggles, workers can go about doing their jobs without worrying about that pesky human-interaction thing.

"Human workers are forced to control their emotions during work time," Osawa said at the human-robot interaction conference at Bielefeld University in Germany on 3 March, New Scientist reported. "Technology can free humans from such emotional restrictions."

"I wanted to build a system that is capable of carrying out social behaviours for humans," he told AFP.

The goggles have motion sensors and twin OLED screens that display the fake eyes. When the wearer moves his/her head, the eyes blink, New Scientist reported. The eyes also follow the motion of the user's conversation partner.

The term emotional labor was first coined by Arlie Russell Hochschild in her 1983 book, "The Managed Heart: Commercialization of Human Feeling." According to Hochschild, an emotional laborer such as a service attendant can become estranged from his or her emotions. This selling of politeness for pay can be detrimental to the person's health.

Video Courtesy IEEE Spectrum/ Youtube.