HVAC Control in the New Millennium.pdf - HVAC.Amickracing

HVAC Control in the New Millenniumswer questions about the weather over the phone.Emotion is another area that computers are trying to understand.MIT’s Media Labs’ Affective Computing Group has developed a systemwhere physiological sensors are attached to the body and camerasrecord facial expressions so the computer can monitor reactions. Theprogram will then adjust to react to the sensor and camera inputs. Forexample, if the user seems confused by a set of instructions, the programwould repeat them or offer additional explanations.The computer itself may also express emotion. MIT’s Bruzard is aninteractive animated 3-D character that uses facial expressions to react toquestions. In the future, Bruzard could be combined with a chatterbot tocreate a more human interface.Microsoft Research is combining these concepts in a project calledFlow for virtual meetings. The scheme is to represent a traditional meetingas much as possible, even though everyone might be in differentlocations.The combination of animation, natural-language processing, voicerecognition and voice synthesis are moving towards user interfaces thatwill seem more natural.Networks in the FutureIn the future, networking will be more invisible and universal.There will be faster-wired networks at home and in the office and morehigh-speed services connecting everything. The areas of networkingtechnology in growth modes include faster access and LANs will continueto grow and become a part of the utility system.The benefits of being universally connected include more efficientutilization of resources. Industry is now deploying the world’s largestvirtual network as an increasing number of contacts for both buys andsales take place over the Internet.The modern automobile is becoming a network of processors andsensors (see Table 5-1). Tollbooths scan our cards and automated fuelpumps can bill us quickly and efficiently. The connected world tries tobecome even more adaptive and helpful.In manufacturing, this connectivity allows just-in-time delivery ofraw materials, shipping of finished products, access to funding andmanagement. Improvements in connectivity will reduce the need for©2001 by The Fairmont Press, Inc. All rights reserved.