Master Thesis: Emotional detection algorithm for wireless emotion monitoring in daily activities

At imec, Body Area Networks

Scope of the project
The scope of the project is to design and develop a new online algorithm for emotion detection from physiological signals during daily activities. The project is realized at the Holst Centre research centre in Eindhoven.

Description of the project
The goal of the project is to design and develop a new online algorithm for emotion detection from physiological signals during daily activities. The algorithm should also take into account physiological changes due to non-emotional activity (eg. Physical activity, postural changes). The project will consist of:

• Familiarization with state of the art of physiological signal based emotion recognition, and evaluation of existing algorithms for emotion detection 
• Develop algorithms to recognize a person’s real time emotion during daily activities. Research topics within this activity include: which physiological signals and features of them are heavily affected by the activity and which are not? How to optimize the feature set for the activity-aware emotion recognition.
• Design user experiment protocols and conduct user experiments to validate the design.
  
  

The Holst Centre is a R&D Institute that performs research on autonomous wireless transducer solutions. In 2008, Holst Centre has developed a series of wireless sensors that, when combined in a wireless sensor network, are used to monitor physiological activity related to emotions (check report) In combination with the appropriate signal processing, this system is used for real time detection of emotional arousal. For the wireless emotion monitoring system, 2 sensors are currently used: one sensor located on the chest measures ECG and respiration, the other sensor located on the wrist to measure the skin conductance and skin temperature. In 2011, a next generation of the wireless emotion system will be developed. This next generation will include additional wireless sensors and improved sensor placement, and will be unobtrusive and easy to use.

Requirements
This project shall be a Master’s Thesis project. It will require the presence of the student at the Holst Centre, Eindhoven, the Netherlands, for minimum 6 months.

The student should have knowledge and/or interest in:

• Biomedical Signal processing 
• Interest in monitoring of emotions

The student should also have good team-work and English communication skills.

For all inquiries, please contact:

Ms Sandra Maas, Management Assistant Human Resources.
Telephone number: +31 (0)40 40 20 500.

Application form