The Hindu Business Line : Work under way on cheap infotainment computers

Dr. Raj Reddy, Professor of Computer Science and Robotics, Carnegie Mellon University, and Mr B. Ramalinga Raju, Chairman, Satyam Computers, are watching the Mega Scanning Computer at the `R&D Showcase 2004' at International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad on Friday. The computer scans and archives books and manuscripts as part of one million book scanning project, in collaboration with CMU. — A. Roy Chowdhury

Hyderabad , March 12

IF the plans of the International Institute of Information Technology-Hyderabad, Carnegie Mellon University and a Korean manufacturer, Trigen, materialise, there could soon be infotainment workstations for just about $ 200-250 as against $3,000 now.

Described as PCTVT, this new integrated information and communication work machine combines the advantages of a PC, capability for video streaming, television, IP phone and movie all rolled into one. There are indications that this project could bring the barrier of cost down to as low as $200-250 and possibly challenge the television industry, Dr Raj Reddy, Head of Robotics Laboratory, Carnegie Mellon University and Chairman of Board, of IIIT-H, said.

Addressing an informal press conference here at IIIT-H on Friday, Dr Reddy said that the students of CMU and IIIT-H are working on software that helps better human-machine interface. Often, the man-machine interface in the present form is quite disruptive and certain focussed research in the areas of speech recognition and cognition will be able to breach this barrier.

``As opposed to the traditional WIMPy ( windows, icons, mouse and process) interface, we plan SILKy interfaces that represent speech, image, language and knowledge synthesis. These would be self-improving interfaces backed by intelligent agents and intuitive support systems,'' he explained.

While this is certain to impact both urban and rural markets, the effort is also trained towards building a rural user interface that will mean low-cost PC by about 2007. This would be a multi-function information appliance that most people would be able to use, he said.

"For the rural connectivity project to succeed in a country like India, we need to address four Cs representing connectivity of high speed, computer access, computer literacy and content", said Dr Reddy.

Contrary to general perception, a common man in a remote area requires higher speeds of connectivity as opposed to a techie working in Microsoft, as the former would need video interface. The best way for countries to leverage the power of information would be to provide free connectivity, he added.

In order to break the barrier of computer literacy, one can have a more convenient man-machine interface where several of the PC functionalities are accessed by remote. And, wherever, there is the problem of a larger application, this could perhaps be handled by a local person for the community. This model could ideally fit a nation like India for community services, he explained.

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