Take the call center for example. For years, companies used man-powered switchboards with operators standing by, ready to pick up and transfer your call to the right department. But as companies (and the population) grew, we needed more.
That’s why humankind invented IVR. The sheer capacity of an IVR system means a huge number of callers can get their needs met quickly and painlessly.
The fact is, though, even if you rarely dial up a big company and use an IVR system, technology plays a leading role in all of our lives.
Sometimes new tech solves small problems (like the Snuggie – it’s convenient and cozy but not life-changing), and sometimes tech tackles our whole lifestyle (like cars and electricity – they fundamentally change the landscape of civilization).
South Korean researchers Jeong-Sik Park, Gil-Jin Jang and Yong-Ho Seo have now combined these two types of problem-solving as they come up with a simple solution to a huge tech advance: the consumer service robot.
From their paper, titled, “Music-Aided Affective Interaction Between Human and Service Robot:”
Service robots operate autonomously to provide useful services for humans. Unlike industrial robots, service robots interact with a large number of users in a variety of places from hospitals to home… An immense variety of service robots are being developed to perform human tasks such as educating children and assisting elderly people.
Service robots have the ability to radically reshape the way we interact and go about our lives. The trouble is, according to Park, that we need to have an effective method of communication.
So what’s the easiest (and arguably best) way to communicate with these robotic helpers?
I’ll give you a hint – it isn’t through gestures or a touch screen. It actually comes from the technology behind IVR systems.
…Check out the rest in “Robots Rocking Out”…
