Science Fiction Dictionary
A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z

 

SEMAINE Project For Sensitive Artificial Listener (SAL) Robots

The SEMAINE project is under development by an international team of scientists. The intent is to create a Sensitive Artificial Listener (SAL) system, which will look at the non-verbal cues of its human users to determine responses.


(Greta, an embodied conversational agent,
talks with Prof. Roddy Cowie and Prof. Maja Pantic)

SEMAINE (Sustained Emotionally coloured Machine-human Interaction using Nonverbal Expression) is led by DFKI, the German Center for Artificial Intelligence. Professor Roddy Cowle leads the team at Queen's University Belfast.

"A basic feature of human communication is that it is colored by emotion. When we talk to another person, the words are carried on an undercurrent of signs that show them what attracts us, what bores us and so on. The fact that computers do not currently do this is one of the main reasons why communicating with them is so unlike interacting with a human. It is also one of the reasons we can find them so frustrating."

“SEMAINE and projects like it will change the way people interact with technology. They mean that you will be talking to your computer in 20 years time. When you do, pause for a minute, and remember that the human sciences at Queen’s helped to lay the groundwork.

Science fiction fans have seen this future before, with remarkable specificity. In his wonderful novel 2010, Arthur C. Clarke writes about the successor to the famous HAL 9000 computer that went to Jupiter in 2001: A Space Odyssey" - the SAL 9000.

The console was never switched off; [Dr. Chandra] checked that no messages were flashing importantly on the display, then spoke into the microphone.

"Good morning, Sal. So you've nothing new for me?"

"No, Dr. Chandra. Have you anything new for me?"

The voice might have been that of any cultured Hindu lady educated in the United States as well as her own country. Sal's accent had no started that way, but over the years she had picked up many of Chandra's intonations.

...No matter that Sal did not really understand more than a fraction of what he said; her responses were so convincing that even her creator was sometimes deceived.
(Read more about the SAL 9000)

Take a look at the future of computer/human interaction in this scene from the movie version of 2010.


(Dr. Chandra talks with the SAL 9000 in 2010 the movie)

Read more at Conversations with Computers (press release).

Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 5/7/2008)

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 ( 0 )

Related News Stories - (" Artificial Intelligence ")

Woman Marries Computer, Vonnegut's Dream Comes True
'Men are made of protoplasm... Lasts forever.' - Kurt Vonnegut

ChatGPT Now Participates in Group Chats
'...the city was their laboratory in human psychology.'

'AI Assistants' Are Actually Less Reliable For News
'Most men updated their PIP on New Year's Day...' - Arthur C. Clarke, 1978.

Will AIs Give Better Results If You're Rude To Them?
'I said, "Listen up, motherf*cker.' - John Varley, 1983

 

Google
  Web TechNovelgy.com   

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.

 

 

 

 

Science Fiction Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's   1950's
1960's   1970's
1980's   1990's
2000's   2010's

Current News

Natural Gait With Prosthetic Connected To Nervous System
'The leg was to function, in a way, as a servo-mechanism operated by Larry’s brain...'

Woman Marries Computer, Vonnegut's Dream Comes True
'Men are made of protoplasm... Lasts forever.'

Spidery 'Walk Me' Toyota Autonomous Wheel Chair Like Star Wars
Walk along with the emperor.

Dancing Robots Taught Dance Moves
'A clockwork figure would be the thing for you...'

Proof Of Robothood - Not A Person
'Who are you people? - Show 'em.'

Indonesian Clans Battle
'The observation vehicle was of that peculiar variety used in conveying a large number of people across rough terrain.'

The 'Last Mile' In China Crowded With Delivery Robots
Yes, it's a delivery robot. On wheels.

Tornyol Microdrone Kills Mosquitoes
'The real border was defended by... a swarm of quasi-independent aerostats.'

PLATO Spacecraft, Hunter Of Habitable Planets, Now Ready
'I ... set my automatic astronomical instruments to searching for a habitable planet.'

Factory Humanoid Robots Built By Humanoid Robots
'...haven't you a section of the factory where only robot labor is employed?'

iPhone Air Fulfils Jobs' Promise From 2007 - A Giant Screen!
'... oblongs were all over the floor and surfaces.'

ChatGPT Now Participates in Group Chats
'...the city was their laboratory in human psychology.'

iPhone Pocket All Sold Out!
'A long, strong, slender net...'

Did The Yautja Have These First?
What a marvel of ingenuity the lit­tle device was!

Jetson ONE Air Races Begin, Can Air Polo Be Far Behind?
'If you're one of those rarities who haven't attended a rocket-polo "carnage", let me tell you it's a colorful affair.'

Will Space Stations Have Large Interior Spaces Again?
'They filed clumsily into the battleroom, like children in a swimming pool for the first time, clinging to the handholds along the side.'

More SF in the News Stories

More Beyond Technovelgy science news stories

Home | Glossary | Invention Timeline | Category | New | Contact Us | FAQ | Advertise |
Technovelgy.com - where science meets fiction™

Copyright© Technovelgy LLC; all rights reserved.