Speech Technology in Space

March 28, 2005

In May, astronauts on the International Space Station will begin working with Clarissa, a speech-powered virtual assistant created using speech recognition software from Nuance. This is according to an announcement released by Nuance today:

Speech in Space: International Space Station Blasts Off with Nuance Speech Recognition; Voice Automation Market Leader Fuels Speech-Powered Astronaut Assistant

According to the release, in the future Clarissa will "talk astronauts through thousands of important procedures related to life support systems, medical exams, and equipment check-out." Previously astronauts had to scroll through instructions on a laptop for�many procedures, an awkward task in zero gravity.

Clarissa includes a dialogue manager that�is able to recognize spoken words and sentences. Describing a recent test, the release says that Clarissa "led astronauts through several water quality analysis procedures, listening for 'next,' 'complete' and 'repeat' commands before reading the appropriate directive."

Below is a photo from NASA showing a scientist demonstrating how the technology can be used for conducting water analysis: