Philips Smart Companion: A Machine with a Personal Touch
July 3, 2005 | Levent OZLER
An electronic device that looks at you, listens and talks to you, and even nods yes to you may seem the stuff of science fiction.
The Smart Companion, a new consumer product by Philips Home Dialogue Systems (HDS), is definitely a pioneer in new, uncharted territory.
At its heart, however, the Smart Companion embodies traditional ideas about the way we humans communicate.
The Smart Companion is such a device. With its human-like interaction technologies, the Companion, which goes by the name of Dimi, is an easy and intuitive interface between the user and the digital world. In its ability to speak and to understand spoken commands, and in its recognition of faces and even gestures, Dimi interacts with the user in a natural way.
"The Smart Companion bridges the gap between you and the technology in your home," says Harry Angenent, marketing and sales manager for HDS.
With the Smart Companion, HDS, a business line of the Philips Technology Incubator, intends to do much more than sell a new product.
It aims to create a completely new market.
To accomplish this goal, HDS can count on powerful resources, chief among them the expertise of Philips Research in user interaction technologies. In so doing, HDS carries out the Philips Technology Incubator's mission, which is to turn promising technologies from Philips.
more: research.philips.com/password/archive/23/pw23_smar (277)
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