Smart home device Soove tracks stress using facial recognition

Growing demands on our modern lives have led to a concerning increase in our stress levels linked to numerous chronic health conditions

London-based studio Recipe Design has unveiled Soove, an Ambient home monitoring device with advanced facial tracking and audio capture technology.

With a sudden global shift to holistic health practices, consumers are starting to prioritise sleep as an essential part of their wellness routines, exposing a growing opportunity to lead the conversation around sleep health.

The concept device uses advanced facial tracking to recognise the key signs of stress in the user’s facial expressions before initiating changes in the home environment that can positively impact wellbeing, for example lighting, temperature or ambient sound.

By recognising signs of tiredness or puffy eyes, the device can also make recommendations on when a user should get fresh air or take a nap.

Recipe design soove - different colors — London-based brand design agency Recipe Design has unveiled a digital assistant that can recognise when a user is feeling stressed, called Soove – ©Recipe Design

To convey the product’s positive influence over the environment, Recipe Design has opted for a friendly interface. The assistant uses a display system to represent a face, which then allows it to convey a certain level of emotion as it blinks or recognises a user.

This focal point is where the facial tracking camera is housed, inside what looks like a glass ball. It sits on top of a distinctive signature sound cone that contains audio capture technology to capture and translate every subtle nuance from its surroundings.

Soove not only monitors well-being from home, but it can optimise the user’s entire day. A simple and intuitive app connects with data captured from wearables and other smart home devices to track and record multiple elements throughout the day which might lessen productivity, including hydration or sleep levels.

Recipe design soove - application — Soove not only monitors well-being from home, but it can optimise the user’s entire day via a simple and intuitive app that connects with data from other smart wearables and devices – ©Recipe Design

“It helps to improve overall wellbeing by guiding the user through challenging and monotonous daily decisions,” says Recipe Design. “In this instance, we can utilise our emotional responses to measure stress and anxiety to automatically adapt to our environments to improve our sleeping rituals.”

With Soove, Recipe Design wants to change the face of surveillance tech

“SOOVE aims to change the meaning of existing face-tracking technology by reframing it as a positive enabler beyond surveillance and security,” says Recipe Design. “In this instance, we can utilise our emotional responses to measure stress and anxiety to automatically adapt to our environments.”

Recipe design soove - showcase example — The Soove uses advanced facial tracking to recognise the key signs of stress before initiating changes that positively impact wellbeing, like lighting, temperature or ambient sound – ©Recipe Design

“With a refreshed market focus on wellbeing and breakthroughs in neurotechnology, a new market for ambient sleep enhancers is emerging alongside existing, wearable sleep trackers. By reframing existing domestic and commercial surveillance technology there is potential to disrupt home monitoring and create an innovative new category designed to influence and drive sensory cues around the smart home to improve our sleep behaviours.”