A goal-oriented interface to consumer electronics using planning and commonsense reasoning

We are reaching a crisis with design of user interfaces for consumer electronics. Flashing 12:00 time indicators, push-andhold buttons, and interminable modes and menus are all symptoms of trying to maintain a one-to-one correspondence between functions and physical controls, which becomes hopeless as the number of capabilities of devices grows. We propose instead to orient interfaces around the goals that users have for the use of devices. We present Roadie, a user interface agent that provides intelligent context-sensitive help and assistance for a network of consumer devices. Roadie uses a Commonsense knowledge base to map between user goals and functions of the devices, and an AI partialorder planner to provide mixed-initiative assistance with executing multi-step procedures and debugging help when things go wrong. Categories and Subject Descriptors H.5.2 [User Interfaces]: Interaction styles. D.2.2 [Design Tools and Techniques]: User Interfaces. I.2 [Artificial Intelligence]. J.7...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2006
• Where: IUI
• Authors: Henry Lieberman, José H. Espinosa
• Keywords: Consumer Electronics, IUI 2006, Software Engineering, User Interface Agent, User Interfaces