As remote work and online meetings become increasingly prevalent, the University of Malta has joined forces Cinteraction to develop a unique AI-powered system designed to detect drowsiness and fatigue during online meetings as part of the Virtual Conferencing of the Future project, funded by Xjenza Malta. The project involved an in-depth evaluation of Facial Emotion Recognition methods to determine the most effective approach for fatigue detection.

AI-powered drowsiness detection systems hold immense potential for various applications, including:

• Workplace Productivity - office
• Online Learning - classroom
• Safety - transport

The VCF project is revolutionising real-time video conferencing solutions by using AI tools that enhance the overall virtual communication experience. It represents a transformative advancement in our ability to enhance engagement and productivity in the digital age. By directly addressing the challenge of fatigue, a common obstacle in virtual environments, the efforts of the University of Malta and Cinteraction are paving the way for more effective online communication, learning, and safety protocols.

This innovation has the potential to reshape how we interact and learn online, fostering more focused and fruitful digital experiences. Professor Montebello, Head of the AI Department at the Faculty of ICT, was the lead from the University of Malta side.

The image shows a typical dataset used, depicting alert, low vigilance, and drowsiness states (top to bottom rows). Source available online.