A new AI tool is in town, and it can help brands assess consumer emotions

Nihilent, a consulting and services company based in Pune, has introduced Emoscape, an artificial intelligence-powered emotion detection engine aimed at delivering real-time consumer sentiment analysis for marketers and advertisers. 

The company claims that the platform can detect human emotions with an accuracy of 98-99% using only a standard webcam, positioning it as a solution for brands looking for more precise consumer insights beyond conventional market research methods. 

The aim appears to be to offer what the company refers to as unbiased consumer response measurement. Unlike conventional focus group studies or survey-based research, Emoscape gathers physiological and micro-expression data to measure emotional responses without depending on self-reported consumer feedback.

"This is an AI-driven engine which can detect emotions with 98% accuracy. The applications are healthcare, psychiatry, sports, entertainment, among many others," explains KV 'Pops' Sridhar, Nihilent's global chief creative officer. "A lot of research has been done through extensive consumer testing, with regard to products, the emotions they evoke, etc."

 More about the tech

Emoscape's underlying architecture integrates India's classical Natyashastra, the ancient Sanskrit treatise that outlines nine essential human emotions, with modern machine learning algorithms and computer vision technology.

The Navarasas, or nine emotions, in Indian classical dance and theatre as described in the ancient text Natyashastra, are: Shringara (love), Hasya (laughter), Karuna (compassion), Raudra (anger), Veera (courage), Bhayanaka (fear), Bibhatsa (disgust), Adbhuta (wonder), and Shantha (peace).

The platform employs 3D motion capture principles and facial recognition systems to decode emotional states through non-invasive biometric analysis.

Sandeep Pendurkar, who oversees business operations for Emoscape at Nihilent, outlines the development timeline: "We have put in about four and a half to five years to come to this stage, starting with getting some professional actors. That was the first learning set for our AI."

Building on that foundation, the company has received guidance from prominent psychiatrists and psychologists in India, including esteemed professionals from Bombay and Bangalore, the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuroscience, as well as McLean Hospital in Boston.

The platform's accuracy assertions are based on comprehensive clinical testing conducted across a variety of demographic and psychographic groups.

Pendurkar details the validation process: "We have carried out several experiments as per the guidance of our advisors, to refine the model. As we speak, we are close to 7,000 tests conducted across multiple age groups, right from three-year-olds to 75-plus among the normal and clinical population."

The clinical population comprises patients with traumatic brain injuries, children with autism, individuals undergoing chemotherapy, those experiencing depression, people suffering from Generalised Anxiety Disorder, and adolescents.

This clinical validation extends to institutional partnerships, including collaboration with the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences, which oversees 660 medical institutions across the state. 

The platform is currently also deployed at Jahangir Hospital in Pune, where it's integrated into routine health assessment protocols.

"The outputs have been corroborated by the test subjects themselves and also the clinicians who have been treating those patients. So that's how we have arrived at that 98% plus accuracy," Pendurkar notes, highlighting the multi-stakeholder validation approach employed during development.

Marketing applications and consumer insights

Emoscape provides marketing practitioners with solutions to ongoing challenges in measuring consumer sentiment and evaluating campaign effectiveness.

Traditional qualitative research methodologies often suffer from response bias, social desirability effects, and limited real-time feedback capabilities—challenges that emotion AI may address through objective physiological measurement.

Sridhar elaborates on marketing applications: "What sets this tool apart is that it is real-time data." As people respond to advertising, it becomes evident how their emotions fluctuate in response to various stimuli. 

"It is a fascinating thing which will add quite a bit to R&D because advertising and communication always deal with changing human behaviour. How people feel, think and then what they do, you get a perfect understanding."

The platform's technical implementation involves simple user interaction protocols. "We use a simple webcam on any laptop, and it's a simple, one-minute blank screen test for normal cases," Pendurkar explains. "The camera captures body movements, shoulders and above. And then eyes and muscle movements that happen on the face are translated into emotions."

For advertising content evaluation, the process adapts to stimulus-specific requirements: "For example, let's say you're looking at the audiovisual ad film on a laptop. While the person is watching the content, the camera captures the body movements," Pendurkar clarifies.

The system generates nine unique emotional categories along with derived metrics such as stress levels and engagement scores, offering marketers detailed sentiment data for optimising campaigns and enhancing consumer experiences.

Expansion of the sector and commercial strategy

Emoscape's commercial roadmap includes various vertical markets beyond advertising, such as healthcare diagnostics, sports performance analysis, educational assessment, and automotive user experience research.

The platform's versatility stems from the essential role of emotion in human decision-making across various contexts.

Pendurkar outlines expansion priorities: "We will expand the usage of Emoscape in the healthcare sector, which covers clinicians, hospitals, etc, covering the normal health checkups to specific clinical cases such as gynaecology, adolescent care, chemotherapy, psychiatry, traumatic brain injury, etc."

Additionally, in the area of sports, the focus is on assisting coaches in understanding the emotional states and traits of athletes.

Educational applications represent another growth vector: "This will go on to other technical institutions such as IITs, schools, other professional institutions, among others." 

Competitive exam institutes place students under significant pressure, highlighting the necessity for emotional assessments at this level.

The broader AI integration paradigm

Emoscape's emergence coincides with the rapid integration of artificial intelligence within marketing technology ecosystems. From programmatic advertising algorithms to predictive analytics platforms, AI-powered solutions increasingly define competitive advantages in consumer engagement and conversion optimisation.

The emotion AI segment specifically addresses the increasing need for detailed consumer insights, as traditional demographic and behavioural segmentation methods are inadequate for marketing strategies focused on personalisation. 

With chatbots already being integrated into the generic workflow of the industry, tools like Emoscape might as well represent the next frontier of consumer understanding technology.

Whether emotion detection platforms achieve widespread adoption will depend on demonstrable ROI improvements, regulatory compliance frameworks, and consumer acceptance of biometric marketing applications.