Entry 05 - Hello Siri; Voice Recognition technology

<Voice Recognition Technology>

Computers have already beaten us at chess, Jeopardy and Go, the ancient board game from Asia. And now, in the raging war with machines, human beings have lost yet another battle - over typing. Turns out voice recognition software has improved to the point where it is significantly faster and more accurate at producing text on a mobile device than we are at typing on its keyboard. Apple applied this technology onto their devices and named it 'Siri'. Without touching one's phone, users can call, send a text message, turn on a music, search for information, open emails, navigate and even make reservations.

<Relation to Computer Science>

Voice recognition is the process of taking the spoken word as an input to a computer program. Voice recognition implies only that the computer can take dictation, not that it understands what is being said. The most common approaches to voice recognition can be divided into two classes: "template matching" and "feature analysis". Template matching is the simplest technique and has the highest accuracy when used properly, but it also suffers from the most limitations. Likewise, devices with  voice recognizing technology those are in market often misunderstands users' input; however once this problem is fixed, voice recognition technology would take a big part in our life.

<References>

1. http://www.hitl.washington.edu/research/knowledge_base/virtual-worlds/EVE/I.D.2.d.VoiceRecognition.html

2. http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/V/voice_recognition.html

3. http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2014/04/the_end_of_typing_speech_recognition_technology_is_getting_better_and_better.html

Entry 03 - Autopilot; Cars those Drive Themselves

<Tesla's Autopilot Cars>

In October 2014, Elon Musk's electric-car company began rolling out sedans with a dozen ultrasonic sensors discreetly placed around both bumpers and sides. The sensors are there to help avoid collisions and Tesla nicknamed it Autopilot. Autopilot is a self-driving car that can drive itself without a manpower controlling it. In these autopilot cars, the devices such as GPS and camera that can recognize traffic signs. Attaching a laser scanner on the top of the car, autopilot cars are also able to shun the passing cars and to operate within the speed limit. Not only this, but also the technology that can adjust the distance between the cars is also being studied. Unfortunately, there was one casualty caused from the use of Tesla's autopilot car as the system is premature yet. Tesla claimed that users are always should be in a position where they can take over the system by placing both of their hands on a handle for unforeseen occurrences.

<Relation to Computer Science>

Tesla's autopilot cars are getting smarter everyday as one Tesla car experiences a situation that is new to it, it updates the information about the incidence in its system. Then, the information is sent to the all Teslas around the world as all of their system is linked in one. Once the car is systematically programmed, it never forgets the information and is able to manage itself if the same situation happens next time. These are programmed by engineers and programmers but computers never makes mistake once the information is inputted. Therefore, autopilot cars would be able to save so many lives as more than 90 percent of auto accidents are caused by human error.

<References>

1. https://www.technologyreview.com/s/600772/10-breakthrough-technologies-2016-tesla-autopilot/

2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5Boj11jEZw
3. http://www.cs.utexas.edu/news/2012/driving-autopilot