Coronavirus promotes the development of voice assistants

news-single-imgcaption" style="width:240px">The use of voice assistants is suitable among the measures against coronavirus.

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In a world suddenly reluctant to touch, synonymous with the risk of contagion, the possibility of controlling objects remotely arouses renewed interest.

Sales of smart locks and doorbells, and other technologies that avoid face-to-face interactions, are thus likely to take off in favor of deconfinement.

Data on the subject is not yet available, but “according to empirical estimates, the use of voice assistants is already increasing sharply,” according to Avi Greengart, technology specialist at Techsponential.

New gadgets will certainly be developed to respond to health concerns in business.

“Offices are going to need buttons and controls without touching. Voice is one of the solutions, even if for light, for example, motion detectors are often easier to use,” notes the consultant.

“On the other hand I think that the connected speakers will become basic installations in hotels and rentals. The fewer there are contact points, the better.”

Awareness

For the moment voice-activated technologies are mainly used at home, to request the weather, info or go shopping. They also find their place in health services, always with the aim of limiting close contact.

“The voice has already settled into the connected home,” notes analyst Jonathan Collins of ABI Research. “Voice commands avoid touching many surfaces, such as smartphones, remote controls, switches, thermostats, door handles, etc.”.

The health crisis is likely “to raise awareness and the adoption of additional connected devices and applications,” he added.

ABI estimates that sales of voice-activated equipment for the home will jump 30% worldwide in 2020 to 141 million devices.

As for voice assistants in general, they are used on approximately 4.2 billion devices, according to Juniper Research, which forecasts a doubling of the figure by 2024.

Voice interactions with smartphones, in particular, should progress a lot.

Dedicated humanoid

“The fact of avoiding touching surfaces only plays a small role in the progression of voice assistants since the start of the pandemic,” comments Julian Issa of Futuresource Consulting.

“It is mainly because consumers spend a lot more time at home on their different devices”, and develop the reflex to speak to voice assistants, she said.

Adoption could become widespread in health institutions, shops and places of entertainment.

A tool developed by Mayo Clinic allows patients to use Alexa to assess their symptoms and access information about the virus.

Veton Kepuska, an engineering science professor at Florida Tech University, is looking to develop voice-activated medical robots that can help limit physical contact and contamination.

“If we already had such an infrastructure in place, we would be better off today,” he said.

Once developed, his “humanoid” could perform many tasks usually performed by doctors and nurses, who would direct him orally.

“The pandemic has created a situation where we have to rethink how we deal with those who need our help without putting ourselves in danger,” said Veton Kepuska. (awp)

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