Making 'Things' talk: Why we need voice interfaces for the IoT

© 2016 Nuance Communications, Inc. All rights reserved. 1

The walls and

appliances are talking ( )


billion Devices will be connected by 2020 – that’s nearly

3x as many as in 2014.

According to Strategy Analytics

https://www.strategyanalytics.com/strategy-analytics/home.VorhUPkrKM8


There are smart homes…



In New York City and

Chicago, the smart city is

here – and it’s keeping track

of everything

Plans are underway to create the

nation’s first “quantified community” in

New York City. 17 million square feet of

commercial and residential land will

track data on air quality, pedestrian

traffic, energy production and

consumption, and the health and

activity levels of workers and residents.

…and even smart cities.


http://www.businessinsider.com/introducing-the-smart-city-2015-6


The Internet of Things permeates life at home, in the workplace, and on the go.


Safe

driving

Workplace

productivity

Retail

experiences

Home

automation

& security Health &

fitness

Home

entertainment



From 2014 to 2020, the number of connected smart home devices will grow by 1,448%.




And by 2020, consumer spending on smart systems for the household will reach $130 billion globally.




Today, the industry is still in its nascent stages; manufacturers are innovating according to their own rules.



Unique form factors are being designed for each environment and application.


Home

entertainment

Home

automation

Workplace

productivity

Health &

fitness



By being connected, these devices offer new levels of intelligence – but additional features or intelligence shouldn’t mean more complexity.


It’s the user interface that should make it easy to tap into this intelligence.



Multimodal design featuring touch, gesture, and voice allows you to interact with these devices in many different ways and in many different environments.


But with new types of IoT devices emerging, voice is becoming the most natural interface across these varying form factors.


Menus, buttons, and screens look different or are nonexistent device to device.



Speech is the unifying modality.



And it’s becoming more and more popular.



billion+ average interactions from connected smart

devices are handled each month by the Nuance

Mobile Cloud.


In 2014, the number of smart TV customers using their voice to find content grew by 230%.

Data from Nuance Mobile Cloud


Why? It’s

easy,

natural, and

accurate.



Even the industrial, manufacturing, and construction markets have the potential to be transformed by IoT devices.


The Atheer AiR 3D smart glasses boosting worker productivity

through voice and gesture interaction.


http://atheerair.com/


As each of these IoT devices and form factors are being designed to serve very specific functions within specific settings, the voice solutions for these devices need to be just as specialized.


You wouldn’t talk to your thermostat the same way as your smartfridge, or talk to your coffee maker the same way as your home robot, right?


“What can I

make for a side

dish that pairs

well with

tuna?”



“Where do

I go to find

the

treasure?”



So, how do we make sure we are continually meeting these burgeoning user expectations?


It all starts with the developer.



Voice is quickly becoming an integral part of a developers’ toolkit. As such, developer programs are expanding.


“Voice recognition is an exciting new method of interaction for Pebble and it has created an opportunity for developers to enhance their existing applications, or create highly engaging new applications designed around the spoken word.”

https://developer.getpebble.com/blog/2015/11/10/Nuance-Brings-Pebble-The-Freedom-Of-Speech/


It’s essential that voice solutions are not only customizable, but that they’re flexible – allowing developers to design for the experience they want without limitations.



Voice

recognition

Text-to-

speech

Natural

language

understanding

Like these tools…

…that are supported by


Vincent, do something funny

Let’s look at an example:


Without a customized speech and NLU model, you could choose to hard-code that sentence and map it to the appropriate functions in your app.

This is funny? If (UserSaid == “Vincent, do something funny.”) {

putHatOn(“red”, “party”) {

}


But other users might say…

If (UserSaid == “Vincent, do something funny.”) {


} else if (UserSaid == “Can you show me something funny?”) {


} else if (UserSaid == “I need a laugh.”) {


} else if (UserSaid == “Do something funny with a hat.”) {


} else if (UserSaid == “Make me laugh please.”) {


Make me laugh please.

Can you show me

something funny?

I need a laugh.

Do something funny with a hat.


Custom speech and NLU allows you to deal with many, many permutations of user requests, providing the scalability, flexibility, and the framework to be responsive with your data.


With the right tools and access to data, developers can build for the IoT – continually improving user experiences as their devices get ‘smarter’ over time.



So what does the future of the future look like?



Eventually, as IoT evolves, some manufacturers (and developers) will begin building more with cross-platform interfaces and connectivity in mind.


TV Like this

smart

home

hub.



Interoperability between IoT systems is critically important to capturing maximum value; manufacturers today are aware of (or beginning to discover) this potential that could be unlocked through IoT.



For this to happen on a large scale, manufacturers will have to work together and develop standards for interoperability.


Some organizations have already started.


In this model, voice will remain at the core of the interface, because…


It’s natural and intuitive.



And as IoT evolves, there will continue to be waves of new-to-market innovative devices that will still require their own distinct interfaces and voice experiences.



New devices like social robots.



“Social robots like Jibo will redefine the way people interact with technologies in their home, and among Jibo’s sensorial inputs, none is more vital to the consumer experience than voice.” -Steve Chambers, CEO, Jibo


Using voice as a means of interaction is here to stay.


After all, it’s human nature to have a conversation – whether those be with another human or with a device.



Armed with the right tools, developers will be able to create specialized voice experiences for the billions of connected devices yet to come.


Developers, are you ready for the IoT? See how you can get started with Nuance Mix Beta.

Sign up now

https://developer.nuance.com/public/index.php?task=mixregister&utm_source=ces-voice-iot-slideshare&utm_medium=slideshare&utm_campaign=ces-2016

https://developer.nuance.com/public/index.php?task=mixregister&utm_source=ces-voice-iot-slideshare&utm_medium=slideshare&utm_campaign=ces-2016

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Making 'Things' talk: Why we need voice interfaces for the IoT