Communications Between People and Smart Buildings

Every interaction between people and machines is a conversation.   And we are starting to be able to sculpt that conversation in ways that it can be most efficient and useful.   Experiments underway are numerous and broad. 

Improving Communications Between People and Smart Buildings    USC News  in ACM
By Gary Polakovic

University of Southern California researchers determined dialogue between people and smart building systems can improve with a virtual avatar representing building management, with social banter key to improving those communications. The researchers exposed several hundred participants to an office setting in virtual reality, followed by an actual office environment for a smaller cohort; participants interacted with a virtual human agent programmed to make pro-environmental requests, to see whether they cooperated. People responded better when the agent was acting on behalf of the building manager, rather than when it personified the building. Having the requests as part of a social dialogue, like small talk, instead of as a monologue, also improved cooperation. The researchers said, "Including a social dialogue may have helped to overcome the difference between person as by making the building persona more relatable." ...