Gender Detector

性别检测仪

Rajeev Sharma has a new computer
system in his lab at Pennsylvania State University that really separates
the boys from the girls.

    Rajeev Sharma在他宾夕法尼亚州大学的实验室建研制成了一种新的计算机系统，它可以区分女孩和男孩。

The computer uses pattern recognition
software to decide whether an image is that of a male or female.

   
该计算机使用图形认知软件来识别一个影象是男还是女。

"It's a learning technique,"
says Sharma, an associate professor of computer science and engineering.
By trial and error, the software has "learned" how to separate
images by gender.

   
“这是一种学习技术。”计算机科学和工程副教授Sharma说。通过反复摸索，软件已‘学会’如何区分影像的性别。

The system was fed 1,755 thumbnail
images of human faces from a standard database and told to determine the
gender of each by "looking at the geometry of the facial
structures," Sharma says.

    Sharma说，向该系统输入1755张来自于一个标准数据库的人脸略图影象，然后指示系统“观察人脸结构的几何图”后，对每张脸性别作出测定。

The images included only eyes, nose and mouth -
eliminating such things as beards and hair -
and the system initially did fairly well, learning which gender to
assign each image just on the basis of visual cues.

One of the reasons the system
succeeds, he says, is there is considerable difference in the
geometrical structure of male and female facial features.

  
他说，该系统成功的原因之一，是男女性别面部特征的几何结构有显著差异。

So in one sense, at least, scientists
have come up with a computer that's better at sex than we are.

   
因此,从某种意义上看,至少，科学家已找到办法使计算机在识别性别方面超过了人类。