The voice of your GPS navigation device generally isn’t the most pleasant thing to you, especially if you’ve just misunderstood its direction and taken the wrong turn. The folks over at Cambridge think that they might be able to make things a little more pleasant for you with the introduction of Charles, a bodiless GPS system that resembles a man’s head and shoulders. It’s designed to sit on the passenger seat, read your facial expression, tone of voice, and other behavioral hints and provide directions in a way that’s more sympathetic to your mood. The researchers who came up with this system claim that it’s about 70 percent accurate at gauging the emotional state of the driver, which is as good as most humans. We have to say that it looks a little scary to have this robot sitting next to you, though.
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