What can a computer know about food? One thing is to print food, another is to let a robot prepare a pre-programmed dish, but beyond that, food doesn't seem to be the ideal domain for a computer to shine, or does it? Well, that depends on the application—like calculating calories from an image. The project is called Im2Calories, and its direct responsible is none other than the Mountain View giant.
The Challenge of Counting Calories
Small portions. Eat several times a day. Place food on a plate. Drink plenty of water. Avoid carbohydrates. Don't eat "this". Don't eat "that". Basically, what most diets propose is to live on air or be a wizard. None take into account critical factors like environment, work, schedules, sleep, and a long list of etceteras that even the most skilled nutritionist must consider carefully. Those who design their lives around the gym don't help much either, because they obviously have certain advantages that the rest of us can't enjoy. Then there are those who swear by calorie counting and adjustments to our satiety. Technology might not be able to help with the latter, but according to Google, it can do something about the former.
Meet Im2Calories
The idea is to develop an advanced algorithm with the ability to calculate the approximate calories of a food item from a simple photograph. The project is named Im2Calories, and according to its developer Kevin Murphy, the goal is to create a kind of "food diary", identify meals, and spare the user from having to manually enter all that information into an app to know the calories of what they're about to eat. The images don't even need to be high-resolution: Im2Calories can work even with the photos that Instagram users take and post of their breakfasts. The plan is for Im2Calories to learn to be more accurate over time. Murphy explains that with just 30 percent certainty, that will be enough for people to start using it, and with the data obtained, the accuracy will improve.
Google recently decided to publish the patent on Im2Calories, so Murphy can't give solid data on its general availability. Still, he points out that he has colleagues in epidemiology and public health who want access to this technology, not to mention the huge market potential of Im2Calories. At the same time, there is a remote possibility that Im2Calories could be misused. Any piece of incorrect information about diets and foods can be as dangerous as obesity itself, and the last thing users need is to fall into "calorie paranoia", ignoring healthy foods because an app indicates an erroneous calorie count.
