Abstract
SIRI has prompted new excitement about spoken language interfaces. Unfortunately, SIRI-inspired discussions make it easy to overlook the diversity of mobile markets in which speech recognition plays a critical role. This chapter examines three of those markets: factory/warehouse operations, offender monitoring, and robotics. Reflecting on some of the earlier adaptations of speech systems in these environments, this chapter demonstrates how speech has dramatically changed some of the most basic aspects of factory/warehouse operations, police activities, and robotics since speech was initially introduced in those settings.
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Notes
- 1.
Mossberg, W. (2011). Year of the Talking Phone and the Cloud that Got Hot. The Wall Street Journal, CCLVIII(147), D1.
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Nuance Communications. (2012). Nuance introduces Nina, the Virtual Assistant for Mobile Customer Service Apps. Burlington, MA: Author.
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- 6.
Until recently. Today, many consider the use of speech in automobiles for voice-activated dialing and command-and-control of entertainment and location-based operations as the ultimate eyes-busy, hands-busy applications of speech.
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Cardinal, D. (2012). Google Glass alternative TTP offers a straight-forward, more-immersive choice. ExtremeTech. Retrieved September 12, 2012 from http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/135907-google-glass-alternative-ttp-offers-a-straight-forward-more-immersive-choice.
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Today, BI Incorporated offers “Sobrietor,” a speech-enabled breathalyzer as part of its electronic offender- monitoring systems.
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“R.U.R.” stands for “Rossum’s Universal Robots.”
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Needham, J. (1956). Science and Civilisation in China, Volume II: History of Scientific Thought. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. p. 53. The Lie Zi ( Chinese: 列子) is a classic, Daoist-text believed to have been written by the philosopher Lie Yukou, in the 5th or 4th century BCE.
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Barnes & Noble Books. (2003). Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary. New York, NY: Author. P. 1664.
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Wikipedia. (2012). “List of fictional robots and androids” most of the over 900 robots, androids, and cyborgs in films and television. Retrieved September 7, 2012 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fictional_robots_and_androids.
- 13.
An android is an automaton that has the form of a human being.
- 14.
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein monster is not included because its vocalizations were restricted to grunts. U.S. television and film also contain a few cyborgs, like the Two-million dollar man, whose physiological functioning is aided or dependent upon mechanical enhancements.
- 15.
The following discussions highlight a number of research and development trends. They are not intended to provide complete coverage of these extremely large and diverse topics. An excellent resource for information about commercial robots is http://www.robotadvice.com.
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Wikipedia. (2012). Autonomous Robot. Retrieved September 7, 2012 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_robot.
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Markowitz, J. (2003). Toys. Speech Technology Magazine, 8(2), 44. Also see Mozer’s chapter in this volume for more information on Radio Rex and toys not described in this chapter.
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Worlds of Wonder Inc. (1987). Care & Instructions: Julie, The World’s Most Intelligent Talking Doll. Freemont, CA: Author.
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For descriptions and reviews see http://www.robotadvice.com.
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Sensory Inc. (2004). Hasbro Selects Sensory for Shrek Products. Sunnyvale, CA: Author. Retrieved September 4, 2012 from http://www.sensoryinc.com/company/pr04_04.html.
- 21.
The Star Wars character is “R2-D2” but this toy is “R2D2.” It was released, decommissioned, and re-released, possibly in response to waxing and waning of popular interest in the “Star Wars” movies.
- 22.
DISnut. (2009). R2-D2 Video. Retrieved September 3, 2012, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5waEUkUy_xY.
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Anny7487. (2009). Aloha Stitch talking plush toy. Retrieved September 3, 2012, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhmvnkwuPag.
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Hasbro (2007). Squawkers McCaw. Pawtucket, RI: Author.
- 25.
Several sources report that the name AIBO was derived from two sources: Artificial Intelligence Robot and the Japanese word for “companion.”
- 26.
Menzel, P. & D’Aluisio, F. (2000). Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 224–227.
- 27.
Sony Corporation (2006) Q3 FY2005 Sony Group Earnings Announcement −06. Tokyo, Japan: Author. Even though the AIBO toy was decommissioned in 2006, international AIBO conventions continue to held every year.
- 28.
Pogue, D. (2001). Looking at AIBO, the Robot Dog. New York Times, 149(51278). Retrieved September 4, 2012 from http://tv.nytimes.com/2001/01/25/technology/25STAT.html?pagewanted=all&_moc.semityn.vt.
- 29.
Defense Advanced Research Agency Projects (2012) DARPA’s Four-Legged Robots Walk Out For Capabilities Demonstration. Retrieved September 12, 2012 from http://www.darpa.mil/NewsEvents/Releases/2012/09/10.aspx.
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- 31.
QRIO reportedly means “quest for curiosity” in Japanese.
- 32.
DOGTERSART. (2007). Qrio conversations. Retrieved September 7, 2012 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqViVrsRbQ0.
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RobotAdvice.com (2006) QIRO. Retrieved September 8, 2012 from http://www.flakmag.com/misc/qrio.html.
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Heater, B. (2012). Furby gets a reboot for 2012, we go hands-on. Retrieved September 3, 2012 from http://www.engadget.com/2012/07/06/furby-hands-on-video/.
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Tellex, S., Kollar, T., Dickerson, S., Walter, M.R., Banerjee, A.G., Teller, S. & Roy, N. (2011). Understanding Natural Language Commands for Robotic Navigation and Mobile Manipulation. Proceedings of the National Conference on Artificial Intelligence. Retrieved September 7, 2012 from http://people.csail.mit.edu/mwalter/papers/tellex11.pdf.
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Cakmak, M. &. Thomaz, A.L. (2012). Designing Robot Learners that Ask Good Questions. HRI’12 International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction. Boston, MA: ACM, 17–24.
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Steels, L. (2001). Language games for autonomous robots. IEEE Intelligent Systems, 16(5), 17–22.
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Schulz, R., Glover, A., Milford, M.J., Wyeth, G. & Wiles, J. (2011). Lingodroids: Studies in Spatial Cognition and Language. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 178–183.
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Markowitz, J.A. (2013). Beyond SIRI: Exploring Spoken Language in Warehouse Operations, Offender Monitoring and Robotics. In: Neustein, A., Markowitz, J. (eds) Mobile Speech and Advanced Natural Language Solutions. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6018-3_1
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