Robotic Wheelchair Follows Voice Commands, Navigates Its Own Way

[Echo_of_thunder 1]

I was scanning the net tonite looking around for wheelchairs being that I use one and this really cought my eye.
Robotic Wheelchair Follows Voice Commands, Navigates Its Own Way. I knew they had thought of doing that years ago when voice commands had just come out but for them to really have done it. What will they come up with next?

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[rpgsearcherz 5]

Follows voice commands...I must admit that I do have issues with that. I know we've all called a phone line(for support) at one point and gotten the dreaded "Please say your account number," "Please say 'Representative, Support, Billing, or Technical'", "I'm sorry, I didn't get that. Please say ----'"I can see it now...Rolling down the street and you say "Forward" and it says "Going left" and runs out in front of a car,=/I wouldn't trust them until they iron out the kinks with all voice recognition.As for your question of where it will go next, I honestly believe that at some point we will have mind-powered things, including wheelchairs. Where you just think "forward" and it automatically goes. Hopefully it's more stable than our voice recognition is now. Think about driving and seeing someone attractive and thinking " I want to go meet her" and it running her over, XDSorry about the jokes in there, it's just how I envision it.

[mm22 0]

I think voice recognition techniques are quite reliable by now and adding it to a wheelchair shouldn't pose a big threat to safety, not anymore than any computer controlled vehicle already has. The issue in case is with the controller itself which has to be tested in the harshest conditions and pass several tests before being considered reliable enough to carry someone on the road, being it on a wheelchair or in a car. I remember reading something about a computer controlled car, that is where everything including steering is done through a controller and actuators rather than mechanical systems, in that occasion I remember someone wondering if such a car would be MS Windows powered and stating it wouldn't be fun to see a "windows blue screen" while traveling on a highway. Certainly the choice of OS is crucial in such a vehicle and it shouldn't be anything we have on ordinary PCs, rather some "industrial grade" tough hardware with a simple and highly reliable operating system. In one occasion I worked on a computer controlled wheelchair and we used a Linux-based OS for that.Where will we go next? To me the idea of voice recognition alone doesn't seem to attractive, I find it faster in most occasions to click something or move a joystick rather than spelling out word by word what I would like the computer to do. Sure if the user has special needs voice recognition could be a useful solution. Even better the idea of connecting directly to one's mind by reading the electrical activity in different regions of the brain, I think experiments of this kind have already been done.

[rpgsearcherz 5]

Don't get me wrong, I do agree with the voice thing being an awesome feature and all, but at the same time it annoys me beyond belief. I've yet to even find one program that works properly with voice recognition, whether it be via phone or online, or even just a PC program(Such as Microsoft Office).

[sakmac 0]

Follows voice commands...I must admit that I do have issues with that. I know we've all called a phone line(for support) at one point and gotten the dreaded "Please say your account number," "Please say 'Representative, Support, Billing, or Technical'", "I'm sorry, I didn't get that. Please say ----'"
I can see it now...Rolling down the street and you say "Forward" and it says "Going left" and runs out in front of a car,=/

I wouldn't trust them until they iron out the kinks with all voice recognition.


As for your question of where it will go next, I honestly believe that at some point we will have mind-powered things, including wheelchairs. Where you just think "forward" and it automatically goes. Hopefully it's more stable than our voice recognition is now. Think about driving and seeing someone attractive and thinking " I want to go meet her" and it running her over, XD


Sorry about the jokes in there, it's just how I envision it.

I completely agree, and especially with those things that are on the phone. It's really annoying because when the stupid phone finally decieded to get what it was getting wrong right, it get something else wrong, and then it all ends up with making you speak to human anyway. Personally, if I had to be in a wheelchair (thank god I'm not), but I would prefer one with buttons, because you would look quite sill saying forward and back in the middle of marks and specers lol (for anyone who doesn't know what marks and specer's is it's a clothes retailer in the u.k lol)

[Echo_of_thunder 1]

Follows voice commands...I must admit that I do have issues with that. I know we've all called a phone line(for support) at one point and gotten the dreaded "Please say your account number," "Please say 'Representative, Support, Billing, or Technical'", "I'm sorry, I didn't get that. Please say ----'"
I can see it now...Rolling down the street and you say "Forward" and it says "Going left" and runs out in front of a car,=/

I wouldn't trust them until they iron out the kinks with all voice recognition.


As for your question of where it will go next, I honestly believe that at some point we will have mind-powered things, including wheelchairs. Where you just think "forward" and it automatically goes. Hopefully it's more stable than our voice recognition is now. Think about driving and seeing someone attractive and thinking " I want to go meet her" and it running her over, XD


Sorry about the jokes in there, it's just how I envision it.

lol I can just see it now. Your sitting there with your friends by a pool. and you say something like ( okay lets go Forward with this plan) and Splash your in the pool.

[rpgsearcherz 5]

lol I can just see it now. Your sitting there with your friends by a pool. and you say something like ( okay lets go Forward with this plan) and Splash your in the pool.

Rofl, exactly what I'm talking about. There are so many things that it could misconstrue.

I'm assuming that you would have to say "Wheelchair Forward" though, but that would just make a lot of people feel awkward in social situations.

Just think about being out in the store and this guy keeps saying "Wheelchair Forward" and "Wheelchair Stop" all the time. Not only is it annoying to others, it may cause them to think the person is deranged.

Honestly, I hate when people are near me in stores talking on phones and stuff, just because it confuses you - you wonder if they are talking to you or themselves.

[Ousk 0]

lol I can just see it now. Your sitting there with your friends by a pool. and you say something like ( okay lets go Forward with this plan) and Splash your in the pool.

Yep that is true but the the worst error you could get. In my experience software that has some words implemented in them tend to think that almost every word is one of those words. No to keen on voice commands. I just had my fun with vista and the speech command a few days ago at a friend. fun fun. Would not want that on my wheelchair.