Talk To Your Things

from the just-what-we-need dept

Some researchers are working on a wearable computing system that will allow you to talk to various inanimate objects. The object itself requires a sensor, which is recognized by the wearable computer. Then, you can ask it a question using voice recognition. The system (in theory) understands the question, knows what you're talking to, wirelessly transmits the question to a central server which then transmits the answer back. Why would this ever be useful? Well, the idea is that in a complex environment like a nuclear plant, an engineer could wander around and "ask" different systems how they were doing. It's an interesting idea, but it seems to me that there are way too many points of failure to make such a system all that reliable.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  • identicon
    xdroop, 26 Jan 2002 @ 2:56pm

    Points of failure

    How many points of failure are there in a typical personal computer? How many points of failure are there in a typical automobile?

    Most of the time, they work pretty well.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      whit, 27 Jan 2002 @ 10:09am

      Re: Points of failure

      How many points of failure are there in a typical personal computer? How many points of failure are there in a typical automobile?

      Most of the time, they work pretty well.

      True, but this technology is about adding another layer of complexity on top of something like a typical personal computer or automobile; the basic tool still has to perform its normal fuctions, as well as recognizing and responding to voice commands.

      It's well within the realm of possibility, but not an easy task by any means...

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    anonymoose, 28 Jan 2002 @ 6:05am

    ?

    Who needs a computer to talk to inanimate objects? I do it all the time!

    :)

    link to this | view in chronology ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.