Since the release of Apple Watch in November 2014, the smartwatch has been a widely talked about topic. A smartwatch is, in principle, like a wristwatch with additional features and functionalities hitherto mostly known from smartphones and computers. Therefore, smartwatches are equipped with a display, sensors, and actuators (e.g., a vibration motors). This is not to suggest, however, that the smartwatch will replace the smartphone. There is a general difference between Companion Smartwatches and Standalone Smartwatches. Like the name suggests, Companion Smartwatches work in sync with a smartphone. They are wirelessly connected to a smartphone via Bluetooth or WLAN and depend on its proximity to display the full range of their features. Standalone Smartwatches are, in contrast, completely independent devices which do not require any connection to a smartphone. Both types of smartwatches can be equipped with apps and thus offer, in theory, near unlimited functions and options.
ODP S3 ON A SMARTWATCH – HOW DOES IT WORK?
SemVox’s evaluations were carried out on the Standalone-Smartwatch „AW-414.GO“ by simvalley MOBILE, which performs all of its functions independently of a mobile device. With an SIM card inserted, the user is able to use the phone functions and all online features. The ODP S3-based software allows for multimodal control options, i.e., via voice or touch. SemVox-technology performs a semantic processing and meaningful interpretation of all input and thus provides a natural interaction. The development of this prototype, including all functions and speech dialog, had to take into account the specific features of this hardware. The display size, for example, can be a constraining factor, making it a challenge to display the most important information without overwhelming the user. Hence, the level of detail has to be kept to a minimum and information needs to be clearly structured and displayed. The SemVox-prototype creates more space for the content area by hiding the action bar. Thereby, the user interface design observes the Android guidelines for smartphones. While programming the main functions of a prototypically implemented shopping app (product search, display of product details, shopping cart management with the options ‘complete purchase’, ‘change product’, ‘delete shopping cart‘), SemVox-developer Nadine Matondo-Mvula also developed the voice control option: a task-based dialog model with the ontologies (semantic objects and their features), NLU (natural language understanding), NLG (Natural Language Generation, the system’s voice reaction to the input) and the backend service. As a last step, she synchronized the voice control and the applications. With this project, SemVox demonstrates that ODP S3 and ODP Workbench can be very efficiently employed in the development of voice-controlled applications for smartwatches.
OONER OR LATER…
It is probably just a matter of time until smartwatches will be as fully part of our everyday lives as smartphones are today. The smartwatch-trend goes hand in hand with the development of new use cases and dovetailing business models. Yet, one problem concerning the usability of smartwatches remains: due to the limited display size, as compared to smartphones, the conventional control option via touch will be able to cater only for a part of all conceivable use cases involving the smart wrist. Here, voice control plays a major role. Voice is not only the most intuitive mode of interaction but also allows the control of any functionality, regardless of display size, at any time. SemVox, as the leading supplier of intelligent assistance systems, sees the smartwatch trend as a very interesting perspective and therefore decided to make its ontology-based dialog platform ODP S3 available for these stylish all-rounders, thus enabling new applications and making the control of existing systems easier.
Let us take a look at an exemplary dialog between a user and a ODP S3-equipped smartwatch:
User: “Create a new appointment, for tomorrow, 4 pm”
Smartwatch: “Please enter a name for the appointment.”
Nutzer: “Meeting Events 2015. ”
Smartwatch: “Please indicate the duration of the appointment.”
User: “Three hours.”
Smartwatch: “This meeting overlaps with the appointment at 6.30 pm with the name dinner with Martina. Do you want me to cancel the appointment dinner with Marina or do you want me to reset the duration of the appointment Meeting Events 2015?”
User: “Oh thank you. Reset duration”
Smartwatch: “I have reset the duration for the event „Meeting Events 2015” to 6.30 pm.
User: “Ok. Invite all entries on the list “Eventmanagement” and “Marketing” to the meeting.
Smartwatch: “I invited seven people”
This example demonstrates how the ODP S3-system integrates contextual knowledge into the dialog and is able to alert the user to the conflict in his schedule. Even after a switch of topics, the system is able to understand that the user wants to invite a specific group to the previously mentioned meeting – and not to the “dinner with Martina”.
Further use cases for a voice controlled smartwatch can be found in the fields of medical technology, industrial applications, e.g., product management and logistics, and in the area of house automation, where smartwatches can make the tedious process of taking out and activating one’s smartphone to change settings in the home superfluous. Voice-controlled smartwatches can function as valuable personal assistants in any field which requires contactless access to information and parallel operation of machinery and systems. An ODP S3-based dialog system can significantly reduce the cognitive load and enhances the economic efficiency of software applications.