We all know that the human-machine interface is developing every day. Leading tech companies like Google, Amazon, Microsoft are competing with each other to create a personal assistant like Jarvis.
We all know about Jarvis who comes in Iron Man. Mr. Tony Stark (aka) Iron Man has seamless conversations with his AI assistant Jarvis and it understands the language and context in which Mr. Stark speaks. Jarvis is connected to all the devices in his house and hence Stark can control all his devices using just his voice.
But these AI assistants are controlled by our voice, and hence there are a lot of disadvantages. Some of them are:
- Our conversations with our AI assistants are not private and discreet. They are broadcasted to the surrounding environment and hence they can always be overheard.
(Mr. Stark lived alone and so he didn’t have that problem)
- The conversations can always be eavesdropped. It is a well-known fact that these personal assistant devices are on 24×7 and not just when we give their wake-up commands.
- Also, there is the problem of proximity. If we are closer to the device then our commands will be interpreted better. If we are far away, they cannot be heard properly by the device.
So, a viable solution for these problems will be to interact with these AI-powered devices with our “inner voice” and having the device with us wherever we go. Sounds crazy?
But the engineers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology have done just that. They have developed AlterEgo.
AlterEgo
AlterEgo is a wearable silent speech device which uses NUI. It allows the user to provide input without any form of voice input or explicit muscle movements. It detects the neuromuscular signals, analyses them and provides the required output.
What is NUI?
NUI stands for Natural User Interface. This interface is effectively invisible. Humans can interact and control their devices by the use of their body parts like hand movements or by using speech.
How AlterEgo works
AlterEgo is a wearable headset which has seven electrodes which act as sensors. These electrodes are located around the laryngeal region (throat region). It also has bone conduction headphones which facilitate two-way communication.
We all know that the signals from the brain reach the different body parts as electric impulses. The junction between two neurons is known as a synapse. The propagation of the nerve impulse through the synapse causes the release of acetylcholine which in turn releases sodium ions and hence creates a potential difference. This potential difference is sensed by the electrodes. It is amplified and measured. This data is compared with the pre-trained dataset (using ML and AI) and the particular word we are trying to communicate is identified by the device. It then performs the required function.
By two-way communication, I mean that we can also receive information from AlterEgo through the bone conduction headphones. These headphones rather than transmitting sound waves into our ear, they are placed above our ear and transmit the vibrations through the bone, into the auditory canal and these vibrations are interpreted by our human brain.
How can we interact with AlterEgo
The AlterEgo model has been trained on certain words and their corresponding neuromuscular signals. We need to talk with ourselves in order to communicate with AlterEgo. The input neuromuscular signal is transmitted to a computing device through the Bluetooth and is analyzed. It can also be used in IoT applications.
For example, if you think (or speak with your inner self) what is 15 times 3546? then AlterEgo understands it and gives you the answer through the bone conduction speakers in the form of vibrations, which your brain understands.
Benefits of AlterEgo
AlterEgo is non-invasive. It captures signals from the user’s skin and hence it will be relatively easy to convince people to use it. It is portable. It does not require any explicit muscle movements or speech. Hence It provides the much-needed privacy because it has a silent user interface. Moreover, it’s speech recognition systems are on par with the other state of the art algorithms and systems, though its vocabulary is much lesser. It has a speech recognition accuracy of 92% which is the highest among the other NUI devices.
It can also be used by disabled people, as it is controlled by their thoughts. It can also serve as a replacement for the physical assistants like Google Home, Siri, Alexa.
So is AlterEgo going to be beneficial?
AlterEgo is still in its developmental stage. Hence, we can’t distinguish its pros and cons easily. Whether AlterEgo it is going to be a great invention or not is going to be secondary. It has succeeded in its primary aim of creating a seamless and easy to use NUI and also integrating the power of AI with the power of the Human Brain.
Tech Wizard 