MICHAEL A. ISNARDI*, DAVID BERENDS
*Corresponding Author
SRI International, Princeton, USA

Abstract

Personal devices are now bristling with enhanced sensors and massive computational power. In addition, by intelligently leveraging several key portable device capabilities, our smartphones and tablets can be transformed into powerful measurement instruments fully capable of producing actionable results at a fraction of the cost of their laboratory counterparts. In this article, we will touch upon the emerging trends in technologies embedded in personal devices that will allow consumers to assess, monitor and enhance their appearance and will discuss several types of appearance measurement apps available either now or in the near future.

INTRODUCTION

The proliferation of portable personal devices, such as smartphones and tablets, presents major opportunities for the cosmetics industry. In this article, we will touch upon the emerging trends in technologies embedded in personal devices that will allow consumers to assess, monitor and enhance their appearance. Such trends include: image sensors with enhanced resolution and spectral response; multiple cameras for depth estimation; and enhanced processing power to build 3D models of the human face and render them under different lighting conditions. The recent availability of tools to port deep neural nets to personal devices will enable detection of facial features and human emotions in real time.

By intelligently leveraging several key portable device capabilities—including controlled illumination, pose estimation, nearfield image capture and fast processing—our smartphones and tablets can be transformed into powerful measurement instruments fully capable of producing actionable results at a fraction of the cost of their laboratory counterparts. For example, apps transforming our handheld devices into colourimeters—certainly of interes ...