第19课_智能房间.docVIP

Lesson 19 Smart Rooms Alex P. Pentland In creating computer systems that can identify people and interpret their actions, researchers have come one step closer to building helpful home and work environments 在创建计算机能够识别人并且解释他们的行为的系统中,研究人员会更近一步构建有用的家庭和工作环境 Imagine a house that always knows where your kids are and tells you if they are getting into trouble. Or an office that sees when you are having an important meeting and shields you from interruptions. Or a car that senses when you are tired and warns you to pull over. Scientists have long tried to design computer systems that could accomplish such feats. Despite their efforts, modern machines are still no match for baby-sitters or secretaries. But they could be. 想象这样一个房子,总是知道你的孩子们在哪,并告诉你他们是否有麻烦了。或者一个办公室,认为当你有一个重要的会议时保护你不被打断。或一辆车,感觉当你已经很累了时警告你靠边。科学家们一直试图设计的计算机系统,可以实现这样的奇迹。尽管他们在努力,但现代机器仍无法与保姆或秘书一样。但是他们可以。 The problem, in my opinion, is that our current computers are both deaf and blind: they experience the world only by way of a keyboard and a mouse. Even multimedia machines, those that handle audiovisual signals as well as text, simply transport strings of data. They do not understand the meaning behind the characters, sounds and pictures they convey. I believe computers must be able to see and hear what we do before they can prove truly helpful. What is more, they must be able to recognize who we are and, as much as another person or even a dog would, make sense of what we are thinking. 这个问题,在我看来,我们当前的电脑都是又聋又盲:他们体验世界只有通过键盘和鼠标。即使是多媒体机器,那些处理音像信号和文本一样,只是运输字符串的数据。他们不了解他们传达的字符,声音和图片的背后意义。我相信计算机必须能够看到和听到我们在做什么在证明的确很有帮助之前。更重要的是,他们必须能够认识到我们是谁,尽可能多的另一个人或甚至一只狗会,理解我们所思考的。 To that end, my group at the Media Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has recently developed a family of computer systems for recognizing faces, expressions and gestures. The technology has enabled us to build environments that behave somewhat like the house, office and car described above. These areas, which we call smart rooms, a