AlexiLearn: Facial Expression Recognition in a Mobile Educational Tool for Alexithymia and Autism

Individuals with alexithymia suffer from a reduced ability to feel, express, and recognize emotions; however, the treatments and therapies that are currently in use are often expensive and inaccessible to some. Moreover, autism spectrum disorder is associated with reduced facial expression recognition ability. In this project, the aim was to develop AlexiLearn, a free application that teaches various aspects of emotions to people with these conditions. This application will include a real-time facial expression recognition (FER) system and other educational features like lessons, practices, and emotional reflections. The result was an 80.714% accuracy model performing real-time FER on a mobile device with the use of Google’s ML Kit face detection model. Gamified elements were added to several other features to increase engagement, like points and upgrades. This paper also considers possible further research, improvements, and features to address common struggles of individuals with these mental conditions, including expressing and feeling emotions.