 |
Universal Whistling Machine - The Future Of Non-Verbal Communications
Canadian artists Marc Bohlen and J.T. Rinker want to change the way that you interact with your favorite electronic devices. Tired of tiny keyboards, poor speech recognition or incomprehensible interfaces? The Universal Whistling Machine is a step toward a non-verbal dialogue between man and machine. The device uses signal-processing to extract whistles from other sounds and exchange sounds with humans, each others and animals, building up a vocabulary of "phrases." Bohlen and Rinker shared a first prize award at the Art & Artificial Life International Competition in Madrid.
(From Bird Meets UWM 12mb)
On his website, Bohlen muses that whistling is a pre-verbal communcation form that is still in use in some parts of the world. The people of Gomera, in the Canary islands, use a whistling language to communicate between distant hilltops. He writes:
U.W.M is an investigation into the vexing problem of human-machine interface design. Whistling is much closer to the phoneme-less signal primitives compatible with digital machinery than the messy domain of spoken language. As opposed to pushing machines into engaging humans in spoken language, U.W.M. suggests we meet on a middle ground. Whistling occurs across all languages and cultures. All people have the capacity to whistle, though many do not whistle well. Lacking phonemes, whistling is a pre-language language, a candidate for a limited Esperanto of human-machine communication.
This is an interesting notion because one of the most successful pieces of consumer electronics, the original Palm PDA, is based on a similar idea applied to writing. Palm devices dispense with the keyboard, but they do not provide true handwriting recognition. Users scrawl on the screen with Graffiti, a set of symbols designed to be more easily read by computers. By meeting the PDA more than halfway, users had an effective subsitute for bulky (or unusable) keyboards.
Old-school hackers don't need to be convinced of the value of a good whistle. The Bell system phased out its human operators in favor of an automated system based on tones of set frequencies in the 1960's. According to hacker legend, a blind boy with perfect pitch figured out how to whistle up unlimited long distance calls.
Science fiction fans have long been fond of a robot that communicated with a series of whistles (and beeps). R2-D2 speaks a language that is very efficient, but which requires the services of a protocol droid for translation into human-understandable language.
If you are interested in other forms of voice recognition, take a look at the Phraselator P2, the most advanced handheld military-grade speech recognition and translation device available. If you're tired of Star Wars reruns, take a look at GRACE - A real robot that specializes in etiquette and protocol.
Thanks to an alert (but anonymous) reader for the idea and a hat-tip to WMMNA.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 12/8/2004)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 2 )
Related News Stories - (" Communication ")
SIRI Virtual Assistant Like Pohl's Joymaker
If this iPhone app actually does what it says on the tin, this really is Frederik Pohl's joymaker come to life.
HDTV Videophone From LG And Panasonic
I'm not sure whether marketing departments have asked whether people really want to be seen in high definition on their videophone.
Nozzl Real-Time Local News
Interesting experiment in real-time, localized automated news.
Mendeley Research Tool Like iTunes Genius
If this site can bring interactive social networking and iTunes-style genius recommendations to the scientific community, it could be the biggest thing since the Royal Academy was founded.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Current News
Put MercuryHouseOne Anywhere
Perhaps looking out through the spray of Victoria Falls.
Computational Wood: Grow Circuits In Living Trees
Just tap into the information tree.
SIRI Virtual Assistant Like Pohl's Joymaker
Man Forrester! Your joymaker is ready.
Liquid Glass Universal Spray-On Protectant
Also used to protect galactic way stations.
WIND Wearable Robot Controller
Robot wirelessly sense, robot do.
Gesture Cube Touch-Free Input
Just think of the gestures you'll use!
IMPASS Robot 'Smart Wheel' Video
I love it when good robot research comes together.
Predator, Prey Robots Evolve
Humanity must make a choice about robot evolution.
Mind-Control Lights At Vancouver Olympics
Bringing The Game to the Olympic Games.
PALRO Companion Robot
Who's your favorite companion robot?
Wasabi Smoke Alarm Now Available
It's an odalarm!
Spyder Olympic GS Suit With d3o
An impact suit made with a shear thickening material.
First Transistor That Mimics Brain Synapse
The Nexus Six phone will need a Nexus-6 brain.
Legged Squad Support System Monster BigDog Robot
A robotic pack mule for soldiers.
Implantable Energy-Harvesting Rubber Sheets
Take a deep breath, and power up that cell phone!
Bose Ride System Smooths Your Ride
Ride the spaceways - uh, roads - in comfort.
