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Move Over HAL, MITRE's "Virtual Human" Assistant Is Real February 2005
If you have ever been the luckless person frantically punching the wrong buttons at the start of a videoconference—as other guests wait expectantly—you probably would appreciate some highly skilled assistance at just the right moment. "Every day around the country, countless minutes are wasted as people struggle with technology, trying to get connected with each other," says Lisa Harper, a MITRE artificial intelligence (AI) engineer. "Everyone has had the experience of spending the first 20 minutes of a meeting trying to figure out equipment and technology before the meeting can start." A team of AI engineers at MITRE is attempting to eliminate fumbles and snafus through the creation of EMMA (Electronic MITRE Meeting Assistant), an animated, life-like character that is able to help humans perform routine yet tricky setup tasks, saving precious workplace time. In the long-term, MITRE's artificial intelligence engineers aspire to create highly advanced machines that can successfully communicate with humans. Such systems have been portrayed in science fiction for many years (remember HAL from the movie 2001?). EMMA, however, is not mere Hollywood fantasy but an evolving reality. She is the product of two different technological exploration projects at MITRE: core dialogue research within the Human Language technology field and perceptive assistive agent research. The former group develops the scope of EMMA's conversational skills with humans and strives to combine human language capabilities with the power of computers, while the latter deals with the animation of EMMA's face and her voice synthesis and recognition abilities. Both initiatives are funded through MITRE's internal research program, which allows for long-term research of emerging technologies that show promise in helping solve sponsors' challenges. "EMMA is rooted in a simple idea," explains Harper, who works in both the core dialogue and perceptive assistive agent areas. "Today's computer systems are becoming too complex, so our proposed solution is to provide a human-like capability in computers. Our challenge is to create a system that acts enough like a human to make computer use easy for people." Christine Doran, a lead artificial intelligence engineer and computational linguist at MITRE, adds, "Our goal is that users will be able to say to EMMA, 'I want to book a flight,' 'I want to set up a videoconference,' or even, 'I want to bake a cake,' and EMMA will be able to carry out the process." Keeping It Simple EMMA's mission is to serve as an assistant that can make operational tasks such as reserving a room, scheduling an event, or running a meeting much simpler for humans. The computerized structure behind EMMA, however, is very complex. "EMMA is highly distributed with a number of different processes involved," says Harper. Creating EMMA requires a team of different skills. For example, one engineer is focused on developing the virtual human likeness, including facial expressions, body movements, and computerized speech input and output. Other engineers are developing EMMA's "sight" in terms of facial and gesture recognition. And like the android Data in Star Trek, EMMA had to be armed with context modeling. Through context modeling EMMA can take the knowledge stored in her computerized "head" and figure out how to accurately apply it within a particular circumstance. "It's a database of how she should operate and respond in certain situations," confirms Dan Loehr, a MITRE AI engineer. "If someone walked into a conference room and said, 'Turn on the lights,' EMMA would easily be able to do so. But if the human then said, 'Too bright, turn them down 10 percent,' the system needs to understand what the word 'them' refers to, because it depends on the context." Another variable for EMMA to handle is the prospect that some people who run meetings may not want the system to do everything for them. "The agent can also work as a tutor," says Harper. "Maybe some people want less help, so EMMA can instruct somebody on how to dial up another videoconference room but not actually perform the task on his or her behalf." Within this tutorial domain, "EMMA must have a model of the task and be able to understand how to use the room," explains AI engineer Abigail Gertner. "She is the agent for the room, and if she deduces that a person doesn't know how to accomplish something, such as dial into another site, she can start a sub-dialogue on that topic. Alternatively, she might have seen a person perform that task before, so she would understand that it would be less appropriate to provide a tutorial." EMMA's Next Phase EMMA is not MITRE's first foray into human computer interaction. For example, at MITRE's 2002 Technology Symposium—a large-scale forum for staff, sponsors, and visitors to learn more about the corporation's innovative R&D projects—a computerized device helped act as a tour guide for guests. MIA (MITRE Information Assistant), a virtual human residing in an ATM-like kiosk was strategically placed by the entrance, providing directions and printing out maps for people. These days, EMMA is being tested in a MITRE lab in McLean, Virginia, that is set up like a typical corporate conference room. Usage experiments are being conducted with MITRE employees who are not directly involved in this project. "How can we build a system for people to put into practical use if we don't know what capabilities they want?" asks Loehr. "This is a valuable opportunity for MITRE workers to test the system by holding real business meetings in the lab, using EMMA." The artificial intelligence team is monitoring meetings and logging interactions, "so we can improve what's under the hood," confirms Loehr. He hopes that in the future, EMMA will become a dialogue agent that is incredibly perceptive, with the ability to "track meetings in progress, with an understanding of who is speaking, who to record, who is in charge, and what the meeting is about." Cognitive systems such as MIA and EMMA carry the promise of widespread application among our sponsors. We began the work with an eye toward helping sponsors improve interfaces in such places as command centers. "There are thousands of conference rooms in the world that use different interfaces," says Harper. "These agents could be a good solution as user interfaces that are compatible across systems." MITRE may license its EMMA technology to commercial companies to create the systems that sponsors would use in the future. MITRE hopes to improve the efficiency of its own meetings by eventually making EMMA available in all conference rooms. EMMA and similar "smart robots" clearly have the potential to transform not only the workplace someday, but life in general. —by Cheryl Balian Related Information Websites |
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| Page last updated: February 9, 2005 | Top of page |
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