IRIS · IRIS: Towards Natural Interaction and Communication

The overall goal of IRIS is to provide a natural interaction communication platform accessible and adapted for all users, particularly for people with speech impairments and elderly in indoor scenarios. Human-Computer interaction with this platform will adopt the principles of universal design and natural user interfaces such as speech, silent speech, gestures, tactile and haptic devices, pictograms, animated characters and personalized synthetic voices. The platform will provide a set of services that allow easy access to social networks, friends and remote family members, fighting social-exclusion of people with special needs or impairments. Application of these features will be performed in the context of serious games, virtual reality environments and assisted living scenarios. We will also explore the use of personalized avatars (that resemble with the user) in asynchronous human-human and human-machine communications, in situations where the user has lost his/her voice and in scenarios where it is not possible to have a video signal transmission due to low bandwidth or privacy reasons. Biometrics will complement the platform, in the sense that authentication and authorization are fundamental aspects for assuring access security to personal information in a natural way. These goals will be accomplished through multiple Transfer of Knowledge mechanisms between Industry and Academia that include secondments, recruitments, seminars, workshops and short courses given by specialized researchers about a diverse range of topics that target both project objectives and career development. The project consortium composed by 5 partners (2 Industry and 3 Academic partners) will also organize a relevant number of outreach activities directed at the general public and events, paving the way for strong and durable repercussions in the scientific, technological, social and economic domains of our society.