Automated Program to Help Improve Social Skills

Researchers at MIT have come out with a new automated program that can help people improve social interaction and speaking skills in people.

The new program, known as MACH (My Automated Conversation CoacH), has not yet been converted into a commercial product but could be very useful for those who feel shy in public or suffer from conditions such as Asperger’s syndrome that makes it difficult for them to maintain eye contact or pick up on social cues.

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MACH makes use of a computer-generated onscreen face along with facial, speech, and behavior analysis and synthesis software in order to stimulate face to face conversation and later on provides feedback on the interactions.

“Interpersonal skills are the key to being successful at work and at home. How we appear and how we convey our feelings to others define us. But there isn’t much help out there to improve on that segment of interaction”, lead researcher M. Ehsan Hoque said.

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Source-Medindia

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