He was obsessed with his idea, had been for years. It became
an obsession when he realised he could not understand the emotions people
showed through their facial movement. His teachers and the specialist ‘friends’
he had to visit said it was a symptom of his Asperger’s. He just knew he was
missing out on something and that his failure to understand could often reduce
his mother to tears.
His breakthrough came when he decided to learn about
seismology. He heard a mention of it on the news and for the next few weeks
learned everything he could about the subject. What fascinated him was the
construction of seismometers, instruments that could map and measure the
seismic waves leading to a greater understanding of their implications.
Since then he had been working on something that could
identify and measure the movement of lines on the face. He called it his
sighmometer as his failures in some situations caused adults to shrug and sigh.
The joke was lost on him.
Linked to his tablet he strapped the small camera to his
jumper and prepared himself for beta testing. Going down to breakfast his
mother turned to look at him from the fridge. He aimed the camera at her face
and read the response on his tablet.
There was clearly some teething problems to iron out. The display
recorded so many emotions and states – exhaustion,
sadness, anger, frustration, and love. 'Love' he thought so he said ‘good morning Mummy,’ in his best voice and
smiled. The readings on the tablet changed – love, love, LOVE.
It needed tuning but it might just work.
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