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The Rapport Radio looks like a standard lamp with a bendy neck and head (stock image)

It's the ultimate mood music – a radio that changes tune to suit how you are feeling.

British students have invented a camera and face-recognition software that detects a listener's mood and picks a suitable song.

If they are happy with the choice and smile, the radio cranks up the volume; but if they frown, it tries another tune.

A very angry look tells it to switch off.

The prototype Rapport Radio looks like a funky standard lamp with a bendy neck and head.

The gadget's head hides a speaker and a webcam and the device is linked to a computer that plays the music.

It is the brainchild of students at the Royal College of Art and Imperial College London, where it is one of nearly 50 student inventions on display this week.

The software decodes the listener's facial expression and tells the radio what to do and how to move.

A smile leads to the neck and head being lifted and a frown leads to it 'nodding' to show it realises the music isn't suitable and it is about to be changed.

The system could also be of use to the paralysed. For instance, bed sores could be avoided via a frown which commands that the position of the mattress be changed.

Yifei Chai, one its inventors, said the facial-recognition software could control other household gadgets.

He added: 'You could go home and look desperately at your kettle and it will start boiling water for you.'