Digital Personal Assistants: Alexa with Image Recognition Technology

Running head: ECHO+1
Echo+
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Echo+
I. Introduction
Today, Digital Personal Assistants (DPAs) materialize a long prophecy on human-machine integration. The growing interactions between human agents and digital devices are further blurring human-machine divides. The current market of DPAs is, moreover, expected to grow exponentially in upcoming years in response to surges in demand. This pattern, exemplary of an Internet of Things (IoT) revolution, is projected to assume more and more important as applications grow and go more mainstream. The significance of DPAs is, accordingly, derived much less from incremental advances, as are currently seen, and more from what DPAs promise. Specifically, DPAs might, in a conventional approach to emerging innovations, be viewed as yet one more, well, innovation. The reality of the matter is, instead, unprecedented applicability, integrability, and upgradability of DPAs. That is, in contrast to innovations, usually phasing out after a given lifecycle (and, in consequence, change into "legacy" applications), DPAs are deployable and portable across platforms, devices and applications. In a similar vein, Echo+, an upgrade to the current Amazon Alexa, is proposed for current purposes.
The upgrade to the current Amazon Alexa involves a couple of differentiated features in Echo+: (i) Image Recognition Technology (IRT) and (ii) TV Streaming Technology (TVST). The IRT is, simply, a feature incorporated into current Amazon Alexa to enable a different set of users (discussed in more detail under the "Target Audience" section) to perform certain actions and activities in a more convenient and enabling manner. For instance, ECHO+ is proposed to enable visually impaired individuals to recognize faces and places more accurately; protect children at and outside the home by producing visual alerts; and, as is usual in IRT, offer surveillance for home
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And office space. The significance of IRT in Echo+ is, in fact, far-reaching and cuts across different application areas. For instance, IRT in Echo+ is an increasingly on-demand feature for accessibility purposes for particularly vulnerable populations such as elderly people. This added feature is, from a justice and equality perspective, a sure empowerment capability enabling visually impaired people to pursue a normal life, just as everyone else does. The new features are, from a safety and security perspective, a major advantage for, say, working parents who can, remotely, monitor child behavior at home. Similarly, IRT is a great support capability for caregivers who could monitor the activities of, say, elderly people. IRT is expected to serve more functions as usability patterns emerge and mature in response to different needs and uses of different user populations.
The TVST is a feature incorporated into current Amazon Alexa to personalize and make more convenient streaming services. Specifically, Echo+ would incorporate a bundling-enabled Fire TV stick, an upgrade from current, conventional TV streaming services featuring Amazon Prime Video. This upgrade does not only expand Amazon Prime Video into a new platform/device yet also integrates current conten...