27.02.2008
Safely Through Ulm with ArriGator
Tobias Heinroth (on the right) with his academic advisor Professor Wolfgang Minker (Copyright: Ulm University)
Tobias Heinroth, a student at the Ulm University, developed a new navigation system for his dissertation at the Institute of Information Technology: ArriGator, which features a speech interface. The name is a combination of the words Arrival and Navigator. The program runs on personal digital assistants (PDAs) and uses GPS to guide pedestrians safely through Ulm’s Söfingen district. A further development for cyclists and entire cities or German states has already been envisaged by Heinroth and his academic advisor, Professor Wolfgang Minker.
Unlike conventional navigation systems, ArriGator responds to spoken questions and instructions. The system’s answers are also spoken and are supplemented by landmarks – photos of distinctive orientation points such as city gates, restaurants and churches. The pictures are displayed on the PDA and can be accompanied by a spoken description via the user’s mobile phone. Thanks to the headset, pedestrians have their hands free at all times. The directions given by ArriGator are designed to be practical, with instructions such as “turn right after the church”, or “go up the hill to the left, just before the restaurant.” Users can listen to the directions as often as they want simply by saying “Repeat”. A simple map of the complete route can also be displayed on the device. The testers that put ArriGator through its paces in Ulm’s Söfingen district were aged from 20 to 71 years. All of them used the system with ease.
More:
Institut für Informationstechnik und Dialogsysteme
http://it.e- technik.uni-ulm.de/ http://www.uni-ulm.de/
