Scientists create system that ’simulates handwritten captchas’

WASHINGTON - Researchers at the Center for Unified Biometrics and Sensors are developing ways to simulate handwritten captchas.

University at Buffalo computer scientist Venu Govindaraju believes that this annoying 21st-century problem has a decidedly old-fashioned solution: handwriting.

“Our perspective is that humans are good at reading handwriting, machines are not. It comes naturally to humans. But computer scientists typically consider handwriting a hopeless case, until someone comes along and shows them that it isn’t,” Govindraju said.

“We developed an archive that can automatically generate as many different styles of handwriting as we want,” he added.

The research is based on pattern recognition, a subfield of machine learning in computer science that is concerned with developing systems based on detecting patterns in data.

The team is developing “smart rooms” - indoor environments equipped with sensitive, but unobtrusive devices, such as cameras and microphones that can identify and track the movements and gestures of inhabitants for a broad range of applications, from providing supplemental supervision in assisted living facilities for the elderly or disabled, to monitoring office workplaces and retail establishments for security.

Eventually, the goal is to extend “smart room” features to larger arenas, such as shopping centers, airports and other transportation centers.

“This, too, is all pattern recognition,” Govindaraju said, “but instead of letters, here, we’re trying to standardize gestures. The idea is to control objects on a monitor without technology.” (ANI)