Education
Google makes Assistant Voice capabilities much easier for people with disabilities to use.
Google has collaborated with leading accessibility company Tobii Dynavox, best known for developing speech synthesis and eye-tracking products, to incorporate Google Assistant into the Snap Core First line of dedicated tablets and mobile apps. That way, people who have difficulty talking can now use Assistant to monitor home appliances and other smart home items.
Tobii is perhaps most well recognized in the technology sector for its eye-tracking applications for consumer electronic devices such as laptops and VR headsets through a separate subsidiary recognized as Tobii Tech. However, many of the same technologies are driven by Tobii Dynavox's speech synthesis tablet line and its companion software package, both of which are commonly used in accessibility and assistive technology spaces.
These touchscreen devices enable owners to configure an icon screen that can generate words and speech snippets, enabling people with developmental disabilities or impaired motor control to interact either by pressing the icons or by using their eyes only.
Since Google Assistant allows you to use your voice to access all of the platform's features, it's not readily accessible to people who are unable to issue voice commands in the way the app was built to receive them. However, the latest Tobii integration would make it easier to monitor Google devices using one of Tobii's speech synthesis machines, with custom button options for, for example, controlling music playback on an Assistant speaker. Speech synthesis systems can issue commands directly to the Google unit, meaning that the smart speaker or monitor may make a request to turn on the lights in the room or to queue the Spotify playlist.
Our mission is to inspire people with disabilities to do what they never did or never thought was possible. It involves the possibility of interacting, managing your surroundings and getting the same access to education and knowledge as everyone else, said Fredrik Ruben, CEO of Tobii Dynavox. We are also very pleased to enter into this relationship with Google and to create innovations that are more available to everyone.
Google is also incorporating Tobii Dynavox 's library of tens of thousands of pictograms — visual symbols that translate to the desired expression, phrase, or action that can be programmed on Tobii's tablet line — into its current Action Blocks network. First released last year, Action Blocks lets you strip down a complicated series of actions on your Android phone or tablet, such as opening your phone app and dialing a contact on your favorites list, to a big button that can sit on the home screen where it's easier to reach.
By providing PCS symbols for customizable keys, the interface would become more familiar to millions of students and adults using Tobii Dynavox's PCS symbols to interact, Tobii Dynavox said in a statement.
