Overview of AffectIQ
AffectIQ is born from developer Ryan Smyth’s personal experience watching his family struggle with uncertainty surrounding emotions in a loved one who could not communicate verbally. These challenges have led him to pursue degrees in neuroscience, psychology, and data analytics. AffectIQ is the continuation of his data analysis capstone project, and the goal is to bring clarity to emotions for those who struggle to recognize and communicate them.
Our Ask
AffectIQ needs data to continue refinement and growth towards market product. Data would ideally consist of physiological data, heart data in the form of EKG and galvanic skin response. Such data would be collected while the subject is being emotionally stimulated, and the evoked emotion recorded to categorize the data. Barring access to this data, AffectIQ is looking for partners to assist with collecting the data.
Product or Service
AffectIQ is a multi-modal emotional recognition model. It uses objective, physiological data gathered using common wearable technologies to determine the emotional state of someone wearing the collecting device. Currently it uses heart rate information in the form of EKG data, as well as conductivity of electricity over the skin.
Company Impact
AffectIQ attempts to bring clarity to emotions. Oftentimes, emotions are challenging to recognize, both by the individual feeling the emotion, and their caregivers. Inability to communicate, atypical presentations, and reduced emotional awareness all present obstacles. AffectIQ bypasses these challenges by looking at the fundamental biological level. By doing so, AffectIQ can help avoid uncertainty emotion and make emotions clearer for people.
Primary Audience
AffectIQ was initially envisioned to help those who cannot communicate their own emotions. Ryan envisioned this to help neuro-diverse individuals and, when applicable their caregivers, who are unable to express themselves, who cannot recognize their own emotions, or who have different presentations that make their emotions challenging to recognize to others.
Despite the focus on neurodiverse populations, AffectIQ can benefit a diverse range of populations. It could be used in conjunction with therapy to create an emotional record that could aid in targeting interventions. It could be used in healthcare or residential settings to identify stressed and distraught patients/residents, triggering interventions that can improve outcomes. It could be used in educational settings to monitor classroom environment. A variety of situations stand to benefit from increased emotional clarity.
Partnership Opportunity
AffectIQ is at this stage primarily looking for partners who can provide data or assist in data collection. Future roles for partnership include mobile app development and individuals and organizations that can assist with beta testing before final release.
Funding Needs
Current funding needs are the costs related to data collection: one wearable device and incentive to participants. Future funding needs are costs of more wearable devices to facilitate beta testing.