Optech creating a virtual assistant through visual feedback

Combining the best parts of Google Glass and Alexa, the University of Illinois startup Optech is creating an artificial intelligence device that takes visual and audio cues from your environment and acts as a virtual assistant. The device, called Olivia (which stands for Optech’s live visual assistant) will feature a camera, a microphone, and speaker, for additional features.

“The issues with Google Glass are a high price point, a short battery life and limited functionality,” said Optech co-founder Kevin Chen, a sophomore in electrical engineering. “Alexa, meanwhile, is a little cumbersome to talk to. Our goal is to create a device that eases the process by adding visual input to better interpret what a customer might want to do.”

Olivia will take images selectively through a wireless processor and perform analysis on what it sees. Although the team is still conducting market research to determine the most likely uses, Chen identified a few that seem to make sense.

For instance, if Olivia senses that you’re looking out a window in the morning, perhaps you’re interested in the weather.  It would then take those cues to communicate the day’s forecast and perhaps suggest what to wear. In syncing with Google maps, it could identify your location and provide suggestions for the closest bistro, bookstore or pharmacy or as it learns more about your interests, make suggestions about places to visit. For international travelers, it could also help translate signs.

For the visually impaired, it could sense objects around a person and help identify potential barriers or tell when it is safe to cross a street. For the elderly, it could include an alert to help remind them when it is time to take pills or with a gyroscope functionality determine if a person has fallen and call for help even if a patient is unconscious and can’t do it for themselves. For those that like to garden it can help identify improper posture. For a student, it could look at math problem and help solve it, or for the coder identify where there might be an extra semicolon.

“Olivia is really that smart friend that is always with you,” Chen said. “When you’re unable to use your smart phone because you’re driving or your hands are occupied is where Olivia really shines.”

Chen says in order to differentiate itself in the market, Olivia would be easy to connect to a pair of glasses or even a ring and be non-intrusive. The Optech team has developed a prototype and is using team members’ experience in revenue and financial modeling, corporate marketing, and social media engagement to help determine viable uses for the technology.

“We are running through some data mining software, which will help identify triggers and provide feedback to the customer based on those triggers,” Chen said.

Chen sees a market with today’s 20-somethings as well.

“One of the aspects of Snapchat spectacles that appeals to the millenial generation is the coherence with the application interface,” Chen said. “Snapchat provides a way to share your experience and see other people’s experience. In our case, Olivia is the experience. She talks to you and advises you based on the vocal and visual signals you provide.”

Zeroing on a few uses to start with will be paramount. Besides the functionality, Chen wants to create a product at a price point that fits the generation. As those solutions become clearer, the Optech team has ambitious goals about positioning itself in the marketplace.

“We’re trying to make a business-to-business model,” Chen said. “We want to leverage our value proposition with vision alongside perhaps the various applications that Olivia could provide to compete against big-name companies.”