[access-uk] =?windows-1252?Q?Chipmaker_Races_to_Save_Stephen_Hawkings_Spe? =?windows-1252?Q?ech_as_His_Condition_Deteriorates:_Scientific? =?windows-1252?Q?_American?Message-Id: <27112391-A88C-4EFA-BF05-AC8839071ADE@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- From: Gordon Keen <gordonkeen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 19 Jan 2013 10:42:44 +0000
Hi
After reading this article I just thought how synthetic speech has developed
and continues to improve from many diverse disabilities.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=intel-helps-hawking-communicate
Chipmaker Races to Save Stephen Hawking’s Speech as His Condition Deteriorates
Renowned physicist Stephen Hawking has long relied on technology to help him
connect with the outside world despite the degenerative motor neuron disease he
has battled for the past 50 years. Whereas Hawking’s condition has deteriorated
over time, a highly respected computer scientist indicated at last week’s
International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that he and his team may be close
to a breakthrough that could boost the rate at which the physicist
communicates, which has fallen to a mere one word per minute in recent years.
For the past decade Hawking has used a voluntary twitch of his cheek muscle to
compose words and sentences one letter at a time that are expressed through a
speech-generation device connected to his computer. Each tweak stops a cursor
that continuously scans text on a screen facing the scientist.
At CES, Intel chief technology officer Justin Rattner noted that Hawking can
actually make a number of other facial expressions as well that might also be
used to speed up the rate at which the physicist conveys his thoughts. Even
providing Hawking with two inputs would give him the ability to communicate
using Morse code, “which would be a great improvement,” said Rattner, who is
also director of Intel Labs.
Intel has since the late 1990s supplied Hawking with technology to help the
scientist express himself. The latest chapter in their work together began in
late 2011 when Hawking reached out to Gordon Moore, informing the Intel
co-founder and father of Moore’s law that the physicist’s ability to compose
text was slowing and inquiring whether Intel could help.
Rattner met with Hawking early last year around the time of the latter’s 70th
birthday celebration in Cambridge, where the Intel CTO was one of the speakers.
After meeting with Hawking, Rattner said he wondered whether his company’s
processor technology could restore the scientist’s ability to communicate at
five words per minute, or even increase that rate to 10. “Up to now, these
technologies didn't work well enough to satisfy someone like Stephen, who wants
to produce a lot of information,” Rattner said.
Intel is now working on a system that can use Hawking’s cheek twitch as well as
mouth and eyebrow movements to provide signals to his computer. “We've built a
new, character-driven interface in modern terms that includes a better word
predictor,” Rattner said. The company is also exploring the use of
facial-recognition software to create a new user interface for Hawking that
would be quicker than selecting individual letters or words.
Hawking’s current setup includes a tablet PC with a forward-facing Webcam that
he can use to place Skype calls. A black box beneath his wheelchair contains an
audio amplifier, voltage regulators and a USB hardware key that receives the
input from an infrared sensor on Hawking’s eyeglasses, which detects changes in
light as he twitches his cheek. A hardware voice synthesizer sits in another
black box on the back of the chair and receives commands from the computer via
a USB-based serial port.
Intel’s work with Hawking is part of the company’s broader research into smart
gadgets as well as assistive technologies for the elderly. The key to advancing
smart devices—which have been at a plateau over the past five or six years—is
context awareness, Rattner said. Devices will really get to know us the way a
friend would, understanding how our facial expressions reflect our mood, he
added.
Intel’s plan for identifying personal context requires a combination of
hardware sensors—camera, accelerometer, microphone, thermometer and others—with
software that can check one’s personal calendar, social networks and Internet
browsing habits, to name a few. “We use this [information] to reason your
current context and what's important at any given time [and deliver] pervasive
assistance,” Rattner said. One approach to “pervasive assistance” is the Magic
Carpet, a rug that Intel and GE developed with embedded sensors and
accelerometers that can record a person’s normal routine and even their gait,
sounding an alert when deviations are detected.
Such assistance will anticipate our needs, letting us know when we are supposed
to be at an appointment and even reminding us to carry enough cash when running
certain errands, according to Rattner, who added, “We’ll be emotionally
connected with our devices in a few years.”
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Other related posts:
- » [access-uk] =?windows-1252?Q?Chipmaker_Races_to_Save_Stephen_HawkingÂs_Spe? =?windows-1252?Q?ech_as_His_Condition_Deteriorates:_Scientific? =?windows-1252?Q?_American?Message-Id: <27112391-A88C-4EFA-BF05-AC8839071ADE@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> - Gordon Keen
