JAPAN: Staff at a Japanese railway station check their smiles before beginning work

Record ID: 463648

  • Title: JAPAN: Staff at a Japanese railway station check their smiles before beginning work
  • Date: 18th July 2009
  • Summary: MAKUHARI, JAPAN (FILE - OCTOBER 8, 2007) (REUTERS) OMRON'S SMILE DETECTION SYSTEM BEING DISPLAYED VOLUNTEERS SMILING INTO CAMERA AND BEING MEASURED
  • Embargoed: 2nd August 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVA2HYBM46DZA7PCWMWQBHUDF4ZQ
  • Story Text: Asami Takahara begins her day at work at Shinagawa station with a smile.
    It's part of her daily duties to sit in front of the "Smile Scan" terminal in use at the Keihin Electric Railways stations and grin at the camera that tests her smirk.
    The "Smile Scan" records her daily smile measurements and helps ensure her employers that her grin is good enough for their customers.
    For those who are not quite able to get to 100%, the system offers helpful hints, such as "Your smile's getting better, just a bit more" or even just "Smile like you're happy!"
    Employees say that using the system helps them to create a brighter and more natural smile for customers.
    "Using the "Smile Scan" system is especially useful for everyday customer interactions. It really helped me develop a natural smile," says Asami Takahashi, a 28-year-old employee and user of the system.
    The technology used for the "Smile Scan" system is based on a suite of software offered by Omron Corporation and used on many digital cameras these days.
    As Omron already makes railway ticket gates, they had no problems with adapting the software to their clients.
    "We were able to use it, to implement it at Keihin for staff training. So right now it's being used by railway staff to make sure they're responding to customers appropriately, and cheerfully," explained Sara Hall, the Senior Communications Coordinator for Omron.
    The system is not limited to just trains though, with a hospital in Osaka using it for customer service as well, and a truck stop in Hokkaido using the system to determine whether a driver is alert enough to continue driving.
    Possible future uses of the technology, Omron says, include putting it in cars to alert drivers if they become sleepy, or judging customer interest for a product that has been placed on display.
  • Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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