Penicillin, X-rays, Viagra are some of man's greatest discoveries that came about by accident.
A software developed by a California teenager, intended for educational purposes and video games, was accidentally discovered to be ideal for treating autism.
An 18-year-old freshman Catalin Voss, set out to create facial recognition software that would help students better interact with educational content.
According to Wired, the software, which was originally designed to facilitate online teaching, responds to a user's behavior for a more interactive learning experience.
“I quickly realized that the app goes beyond what I had intended,” Voss told the Huffington Post. “Through the process of creating a facial tracker, we discovered that it could be used to detect emotions.”
Indeed, the software can recognize facial movements, such as a smile, a frown, or a raised eyebrow. With the launch of Google Glass, Voss had a very bright idea: It could help users with autism detect the messages conveyed by a person's facial expressions in real time.
In a demonstration video on Sension’s website, Google Glass equipped with the software when pointed at a smiling girl, the digital display reads “happy.” Point the glasses at someone with wide eyes and an open mouth, and the display reads “surprised.”
Hypothetically, a user with autism who wears Google Glass with Sension software could interact with others by understanding their emotions.
“It can be used to facilitate social understanding in individuals with autism and is potentially beneficial,” says Derek Ott, a professor in the Department of Psychiatry at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine.
Watch the presentation video
