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| Voice-activated digital assistants such as Amazon's Alexa and rivals from Google, Apple and others may become more important in light of the virus pandemic (AFP Photo/JUSTIN SULLIVAN) |
Washington (AFP) - In a world suddenly fearful of touch, voice technology is getting a fresh look.
Voice-activated
systems such as Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa and Apple's Siri have seen
strong growth in recent years, and the virus pandemic could accelerate that,
analysts say.
Voice
assistants are not only answering queries and shopping, but also being used for
smart home control and for a range of business and medical applications which
could see increased interest as people seek to limit personal contact.
"Voice
has already made significant inroads into the smart home space and voice
control can mean avoiding commonly touched surfaces around the home from
smartphones, to TV remotes, light switches, thermostats, door handles and
more," said analyst Jonathan Collins of ABI Research.
The
pandemic is likely to provide "additional motivation and incentive for
voice control in the home that will help drive awareness and adoption for a
range of additional smart home devices and applications," Collins said.
ABI estimates
that voice control device shipments for smart home devices hit 141 million last
year, and in 2020 will grow globally by close to 30 percent.
For the
broader market of voice assistants, Juniper Research estimates 4.2 billion
devices in use this year, growing to 8.4 billion by 2024, with much of the
interactions on smartphones.
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| More people are using voice-activated technologies like Google Assistant during the virus lockdowns (AFP Photo/Ethan Miller) |
Smart
locks, doorbells
Collins
said he expected to see growing interest in smart locks and doorbells, along
with other smart home systems, to eliminate the need for personal contact and
face-to-face interaction as a result of the pandemic.
Avi
Greengart, a technology analyst and consultant with Techsponential, said data
is not yet available but that "anecdotally, voice assistant usage is way
up" as a result of lockdowns.
Greengart
said he expects a wider range of business applications for voice technologies
in response to health and safety concerns.
"Looking
forward, office spaces will need move towards more touch-free controls; voice
can be a solution, although motion triggers for lighting is often easier and
more friction-free," he said.
"However,
I do expect smart speakers -- along with an emailed list of commands -- to be a
common feature at hotels and other rental properties. The fewer touch points,
the better."
Post-pandemic outlook
Julian Issa
of Futuresource Consulting said there appears to be "an uptick in the use
of voice assistants since the virus outbreak" during the pandemic.
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Robots are
already being deployed in medical situations
in the pandemic, but researchers
say improved voice
technologies could enable them to play an even
greater role
(AFP Photo/
Manjunath Kiran)
|
"Whilst
avoiding touching surfaces may play a small part in this, it is mainly due to
consumers spending far more time at home with their devices," Issa said.
Chris
Pennell, another Futuresource analyst, said he expects adoption of digital
assistants is likely to accelerate, "especially in client facing areas
such as healthcare, retail and entertainment."
One example
of this already in use is a Mayo Clinic tool using Amazon Alexa which allows
people to assess their symptoms and access information on the virus.
Other
medical applications are also in the works for voice technologies.
Veton
Kepuska, a Florida Tech computer engineering professor who specializes in
speech recognition technologies, is seeking to develop voice-activated medical
robots that can help limit physical contact and contagion.
"If we
had this infrastructure in place, we would have been better off today,"
said Kepuska, who was spurred by the COVID-19 outbreak to seek funding for the
research effort.
Kepuska
said this effort could lead to a "humanoid" medical robot which can
take over many tasks from doctors or nurses with voice interaction.
"The
pandemic has created a situation where we need to think about how to deliver
services to people who need our help without putting ourselves in danger,"
he said.
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