I have a friend who has high-functioning autism, and we've had conversations on some of the challenges he has had. A child with autism often has to learn facial expressions by rote. Depending on age this may be from a book, or blocks with cartoon faces on them, or really any number of things. Looking at Facerig, I think it could be an excellent resource.

Not only can it show expressions, but in the "advanced face tracking" tab you can see exactly how each part of the face is involved. It has a variety of realistic and abstract faces, and it could even alter the expression within an acceptable range so every smile isn't exactly the same.

Plus, being taught by a talking red panda is probably more interesting to a child than reading a book over and over.

There's also possibility for a expression recognizing smart-glasses app, but that may be stretching Facerig a bit much. Expression recognizing software already exists, but it's usually marketed to advertising firms.


I don't know what the market for this kind of thing looks like. I have run the idea by exactly one person with autism, and he thought it sounded good. But hey, talk to the right people and you might even be able to get a grant or something.