Voice User Interface (VUI) can rescue us from the coronavirus
Have you seen people trying to avoid elevator buttons, using their elbows, jacket covered hands and what not! We are running out of body-parts to avoid touching these buttons.
We were caught unawares this time around. Chaos, confusion, and fear all over. The US has been found unprepared and the public spaces are ill-designed to counter such an epidemic, which is contagious and spreads with touch and contact.
Remote work has been catching up, now we have one more reason to promote it. Companies like zoom (ZM) — the video conferencing app — have gained as much as 30% share value in the last few weeks. Conferences are being canceled and some of them have decided to go virtual. Universities are going online only, for a semester or two.
It’s time we start building our spaces and public utilities future proof to counter calamities such as coronavirus.
For the evangelists of voice interface, there has never been a better time than this one. Corona Virus panic is spreading faster than the virus itself. People all around are staying home and avoiding public spaces and transport.
But, there are places where you do not have an option other than touching interfaces which are publicly used
Elevators in Apartments and offices: You touch the button only to select a floor and occasionally to close or open the door, which is easily replaceable by a voice interface. “Hey Elevator, please take me to the 11th floor!”, “Hey Elevator, please close the door!” — such voice commands should be enough to get around touching those virus-ridden buttons.
Homes and office spaces of the future will have elevators that operate through voice commands.
Parking Stalls: Most widely used touch interfaces with multiple human touchpoints to select a space, time and make payment. These can be operated by voice commands with mere software updates. While payments can be mobile-only or using the touchless NFC technology.
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Public restrooms: I never want to touch the restroom doors and knobs, but have I ever touched them? Always! None of the public restrooms, I have visited have 100% automated doors, the stalls are the trickiest of them all. The slidings door or the ones operated using a tap of the foot should be good enough alternates.
The same goes for the soap dispenser and the taps in restrooms, these are being replaced with the new sensor-based which not only makes them contactless but saves gallons of water as well every single day.
Kiosks for metro/bus/train tickets: Similar to parking stalls, these kiosks will have to be designed for touchless experiences. These might not be as easy as the above two but, Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa and Google’s Assistant have covered a lot of ground to make voice interfaces accessible and usable for everyone.
Vending machines/Cash ATMs/Online check-in kiosks: (Interactive Voice Response) IVRs are already doing a good job taking orders from customers on the call, the same technology stack can be easily used in these public kiosks to prevent them from becoming virus spreading machines.
Open office spaces: These have been a topic of debate ever since open spaces were introduced. Covid-19 gives a chance to take a stab at anyone backing it. While open and frequent collaborations can be an advantage at times but its a lot of unfocused work and unproductive hours that takes a toll on the employees and companies alike. Top it up with a scare of the virus spreading faster in closed spaces.
Building a 100% contact-less experience is no mean feat. Smart homes and cities of the future should look beyond turning lights on and off to make us ready for virus epidemics and public unrest. Architects and designers have a task at hand to design spaces and interfaces which are voice-operated and can enable collaboration on-demand.
About Amar:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/amar-saurabh/
Amar is a product manager, entrepreneur and cricketer. He has been an entrepreneur for the last 6 years. Currently pursuing Masters in Product Management at Carnegie Mellon University. Amar is passionate about making people’s lives better by building products.
Image credits:
https://www.instructables.com/id/The-Incredible-Amazing-Stick-For-elevator-buttons/
https://www.regardpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/half-of-commercial-height-feet-restrooms-asi-mirror-girl-walls-restroom-tpi-funny-panel-suppliers-pictures-humor-parts-canada-bathroom-partitions-design.jpg
