Our need to get information quickly and accurately has created an ever- increasing demand for smart assistants. Many of us are familiar with how today's digital assistants help us. We ask them a question and they answer. But often, the interaction feels robotic. It calls to mind a scene from a science fiction movie rather than real-life human interaction, mainly due to the lack of visual appeal and limited ways in which the assistants communicate with us.
The technology company MOFA, based in Shanghai, claims it may have a powerful solution for these issues based on a recently published U.S patent number US20230316643A1. This patent discloses a unique method and system that significantly upgrades how digital assistants understand, process, and respond to various types of user inputs.
The core issue this patent is addressing is the limited methods of interaction offered by current intelligent assistants, which mainly include text and speech. This limitation often leads to poor user experience and inefficiencies in acquiring needed information. For instance, a user may need to manually sift through vast amounts of information provided by the assistant to find what they are looking for. Additionally, the current interaction is restricted, lacking real-time visual and auditory feedback, which often results in users getting non-contextual and irrelevant answers.
The new method and system developed by MOFA aims to offer greater user interaction through smart virtual roles. The interaction isn't restricted to just texts and speeches but is expanded to incorporate different types of data inputs, including visual and auditory data. For instance, the user could provide data inputs through hand signs, voice, images, or even regular text, and the system would understand this input and respond accordingly.
Imagine yourself cooking a meal and forgetting the recipe halfway through. Instead of scrolling through numerous apps to find the recipe, you can just ask the smart assistant. This assistant, in the form of a virtual character, would not only tell you the recipe but show you a real-time visual example of the cooking process, like a real person guiding you in your kitchen. It all sounds like science fiction, but if MOFA's invention turns out to be effective, it could become our everyday reality.
The impact of such technology, if commercialized, could significantly transform how we interact with technology. For instance, learning a new skill or even a new language could become easier, more engaging, and interactive with a 3D virtual tutor who understands our visual, auditory as well as textual inputs. Similarly, online shopping could become a more exciting experience where a virtual shopping assistant helps you choose from various products in a virtual 3D shop.
With MOFA's patented invention, our world could take a giant leap towards making the interaction with digital assistants more rich, immersive, and intuitive. Still, it's important to point out that this is a patent, and a patented invention does not guarantee that it would surface as a commercial product. So, while the future seems fascinating, we need to wait to see how the realization of such inventions would shape our digital experience.