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AI Assistant on The Way
December 15, 2015 by admin
Filed under Around The Net
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Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University are working on artificial intelligence software that could one day become a personal assistant, whispering directions to get to a restaurant, put together a book shelf or repair a manufacturing machine.
The software is named Gabriel, after the angel that serves as God’s messenger, and is designed to be used in a wearable vision system – something similar to Google Glass or another head-mounted system. Tapping into information held in the cloud, the system is set up to feed or “whisper” information to the user as needed.
At this point, the project is focused on the software and is not connected to a particular hardware device.
“Ten years ago, people thought of this as science fiction,” said Mahadev Satyanarayanan, professor of computer science and the principal investigator for the Gabriel project, at Carnegie Mellon. “But now it’s on the verge of reality.”
The project, which has been funded by a $2.8 million grant from the National Science Foundation, has been in the works for the past five years.
“This will enable us to approach, with much higher confidence, tasks, such as putting a kit together,” said Satyanarayanan. “For example, assembling a furniture kit from IKEA can be complex and you may make mistakes. Our research makes it possible to create an app that is specific to this task and which guides you step-by-step and detects mistakes immediately.”
He called Gabriel a “huge leap in technology” that uses mobile computing, wireless networking, computer vision, human-computer interaction and artificial intelligence.
Satyanarayanan said he and his team are not in talks with device makers about getting the software in use, but he hopes it’s just a few years away from commercialization.
“The experience is much like a driver using a GPS navigation system,” Satyanarayanan said. “It gives you instructions when you need them, corrects you when you make a mistake and, most of the time, shuts up so it doesn’t bug you.”
One of the key technologies being used with the Gabriel project is called a “cloudlet.” Developed by Satyanarayanan, a cloudlet is a cloud-supported data center that serves multiple local mobile users.
Source- http://www.thegurureview.net/consumer-category/want-an-ai-based-whispering-personal-assistant.html
Google Buys Clever Sense
December 21, 2011 by admin
Filed under Consumer Electronics
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Google has purchased Clever Sense, the developer of Alfred, a personalized restaurant and bars recommendations app, for an undisclosed amount, both companies stated.
The Internet giant has been strengthening its local offerings. It acquired in September for example a restaurant ratings publisher Zagat to boost its online maps and local business listings with trustworthy reviews and recommendations.
Alfred, which currently provides recommendations on restaurants, bars, and night life in the locality where the person is, could however down the line broaden its scope, potentially making it the Android alternative to the Siri personal assistant on Apple’s iPhone 4S.
Clever Sense’s co-founder and CEO Babak Pahlavan suggested in a notice on the company’s website that Alfred may include other information sources and services.
Discovering local information is extremely important to both users and businesses, and the acquisition of Clever Sense will benefit both, Pahlavan said. “With Google and Clever Sense working together, our entire team looks forward to building more intelligent, serendipitous and magical services!”, he added.