Researchers at the University of Manchester revealed a real-time face tracker on a mobile phone this week and decided to use the Nokia N900 for demo. The aim for the research is to do both face and voice verification using the camera and microphone built into mobile phones for secure access to apps without passwords.

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The face tracker use landmarks on the face using a technique known as the Active Appearance Model. The positions of these landmarks relative to each other define the shape of your face and indicate where you are looking, your expression and who you are. As you can see in the video, the tracker does a pretty good job following the face even when the phone pans or rotates. Let’s hope this technology evolves from the Nokia N900 into other mobile phones as well.

For more information on this video, see this page from Dr. Philip A. Tresadern.