First I will create a collection of material that relates to current thoughts related to sensor fusion

But How Do We Actually Talk to the Internet of Things?

• BY ILYA GELFENBEYN, SPEAKTOIT
• 08.01.14
• 10:26 AM

Image: internet.org via YouTube

The Internet of Things is that moment when every noun with a physical form can be connected to the network and web-enabled. Wiring all the objects in our lives to computer networks will transform our lived environments even as technology disappears into those environments. In the Internet of Things, your clothes, your car, and your house will become the next pieces of technology to be changed by the information age. Your clothes will adjust to weather predictions, your car will adjust to traffic updates, and your house will automatically sense your presence to set heating, ventilation, and air conditioning based on your preferences. All told, the Internet of Things will make technological improvements in our daily lives seamless and invisible.

When these innovations are discussed, the focus is almost always on what the Internet of Things (or the IoT, as it’s shorthanded) could potentially do, how they are connected to the network, and their potential dangers (like the spamming refrigerator). Very little thought, at least relatively, goes into how we’re going to communicate with the IoT. Andy Hobsbawm notes the potential handwringing that it might incite: the sheer number of machines, of computers, in our lives is becoming overwhelming, and now they’re constantly talking to each other. But Hobsbawn also wants to know how humans are supposed to connect with these hyperconnected objects. How do we make our preferences known to our technologies? How do we communicate with, for instance, our home?

Hobsbawm proposes that we “mirror the way we use other smart digital technologies in our connected lives” by following, friending, and connecting those objects to ourselves. However, it is, at best, an immediate and intermediary solution. If the goal of the Internet of Things is to advance this world where the line between technology and all the other things in our lives becomes completely invisible, then this cannot be the ultimate solution. All technology, including our interface and input systems, must become more and more intuitive.

Natural language programs and voice interface systems are increasingly common additional features to devices and seem an obvious solution. They’re more flexible and versatile than the visual interfaces we currently and primarily rely on. Instead of congregating around a screen with a visual menu to check the weather, voice interfaces will allow you to ask what the weather is from anywhere in a house — whether you have your smartphone near you or not. So long as you’re within the house’s “hearing” distance, you can interface with the IoT to check the weather, the traffic, and a host of other things as well. The sophistication of the technology is improving dramatically, and wide adoption of voice as a primary interface system is likely within the next five years.

Of course, voice interfaces won’t be everything. The idea of talking to a door is strange, and that interaction may never feel natural. While we might appreciate being able to tell a door to open when we’re carrying an armful of groceries, there may be other, more intuitive, ways of signaling to a door that it should open. Even now, it’s much more natural to have sensors that open doors when we’re in proximity to the door. The problem with these sensors is that they’re indiscriminate. They’ll open when you’re close, regardless of whether you’re walking towards it or if you just want to walk past it.

But here’s where another aspect of the intersection of voice assistants and the Internet of Things comes into play: all these technologies will become more intuitive when they become predictive. The point is not just to install voice interfaces, but to have a voice assistant — an interface that will remember and assist you through its access to the vast connections within the material world, that will make it more comfortable for human beings to speak to. It feels strange to tell a door to open, but asking for someone else, a friend or even a stranger, to keep a door open is familiar. So directing your desires to a voice assistant will enhance the world imagined by the IoT. But even more, your voice assistant will know you and, with predictive technology, will be able to anticipate your needs. You won’t even need to ask your assistant to open the door. Your voice assistant will already know you came back from the grocery store, bought a heavy collection of produce, and will automatically open the door when you’re near.

The confluence of many technologies — the IoT, natural language technology, big data — will better allow technology to adapt to behavior and to understand each individual person better. Yes natural language technology will improve our ability to interface with the dispersed network of machines that the Internet of Things is imagining for our future. But we must remember that language is not just speech or text — it is intonation and tone, facial expressions and gestures. What the expansiveness, the wearability, the embedded experience of the IoT will transform how we communicate with machines in a way that will reinvest a fuller range of the body. Neither the hyperconnectivity of the Internet of Things nor the new forms of user input and interface systems will be sufficient in isolation to bring about these more intuitive technological worlds. Instead, it is through their fusion and collaboration that will ultimately fulfill the promises these technologies suggest.  

Ilya Gelfenbeyn is the CEO of Speaktoit, a developer of human-computer interaction technologies based on natural language conversations.