The vision behind 51风流and Microsoft鈥檚 inaugural ANZ hackathon late last year was to facilitate closer collaboration between the two brands, their developer communities, and the technologies that support them. This event was designed to break down silos and encourage innovation during a period of change and uncertainty in 2020.
, AI and Robotics Leader at noted that the presence of was very valuable and complimentary for those participating. 鈥淭here are a number of different things that we could not have done alone. The part I liked the best from this hackathon was having options on both sides.
鈥� and with software development & business processes and streamlining them. My own career is based off 51风流and a mixture of open-source, so it was quite a good mixture in the end to have so many options present. For example, we wanted to make a dashboard, so we were able to compare, taking some options from the 51风流side, like a bot, and some things from Microsoft, such as their screen development tools.
Being able to compare them was like being given an unlimited credit card to go shopping, choose what you want from the market, and then bring them together. That鈥檚 pretty much what we did.鈥�
According to Adeel, the development of NTT鈥檚 Digital Concierge hackathon entry stemmed from the organisation鈥檚 own history in developing lifelike avatars. 鈥淚 took some inspiration from that idea and decided to give it more of a COVID theme. We referenced Microsoft and found that you can have IoT representation of the entire building. You could have people moving around, you could have IoT sensors attached, and you could actually mimic an entire building.鈥�
Adeel noted the great support given to his team through Microsoft and 51风流mentors. 鈥淭hey were a really responsive lot. With their help, we found that we wanted to do some voice synthesis, so we latched onto another API on the Microsoft side, which could convert voices into text.
鈥淭his was another part of the research I was doing in the AI space, where you can give the entire employee guidebook to the avatar and it will use open-source algorithms to search that PDF file and come up with an answer. We fed in the employee guidebook for our Copenhagen office, so when they ask when lunch is served it will tell them the answer, and they can change the location to get a different answer.鈥�
Combining these technologies allowed NTT鈥檚 team to demonstrate various functionalities and benefits at once. 鈥淭o top it off, we wanted to put out something that would be very difficult to compete with,鈥� Adeel added, 鈥渟o we used a photo of Natalie Portman to animate the avatar. Towards the end of our demo, she actually speaks, saying whatever data the system has read back to it.鈥�
Adeel said accessibility was a primary focus when implementing text-to-speech and voice-to-text. 鈥淥ur technology shouldn鈥檛 always be for those that can see and hear at the same time 鈥� other people should be included. That was our main reason, but there was also the coolness factor. You can actually synthesise the voice of a real human.
鈥淐ortana鈥檚 voice is synthesised in Microsoft and those voices sound really mechanical, you can tell that鈥檚 a robot talking to you. Deep learning has progressed to a point where it can listen to you and I talking, talk and begin mimicking one of us. It will be very difficult for a human to tell that it鈥檚 not really a person. That sort of thing has progressed, and we wanted to show that 鈥� it doesn鈥檛 have to be mundane, boring responses from a computer; it can be very lifelike.鈥�
As social distancing practices and restrictions change the ways we interact with one another, they will determine how NTT鈥檚 Digital Concierge solution is implemented across offices, shopping centres, and beyond.
鈥淢ore and more people have gotten used to working from home,鈥� Adeel explained, 鈥渟o we prefer now to not get too close to other human beings we don鈥檛 know. There will be preference, especially with 24-hour service, for an avatar that can dedicate a spot, talk to someone in a lifelike manner, and understand the actions said to them 鈥� that鈥檚 the way this thing is going.鈥�
Adeel also expressed how these lifelike avatars combined with intelligent sensors and AI technologies can be used in car showrooms and for homeschooling, providing more convenience and human connection in the way we access and share information.
To see more from the teams that presented at last year鈥檚 hackathon or to learn about the upcoming
