Internet of Things (IoT) is one of the major technologies shaping the future by connecting physical objects or devices to the internet. Additionally, it provides a range of opportunities for the intersection of other technological trends, which can enhance its efficiency and intelligence. Many organizations are adopting chatbots in great numbers because of huge advancements in conversational platforms and frameworks. Businesses have also realized that IoT is becoming a part of users’ daily interactions and playing an important role in today’s digitally connected world.
In this blog, I’ll discuss the relevance and benefits of Intelligent Conversational platforms such as Chatbots with the Internet of Things.
According to AIxOutlook, “The Internet of things (IoT) is a network of physical objects or things connected through the internet to transfer data using software, sensors, and technology.”
IoT systems face several challenges, but one of them is unifying User Interfaces (UIs). Users must be able to access apps, services, and settings in ways that are consistent across different devices. In an increasingly connected world, users find it difficult to manage multiple applications and dashboards for each new “IoT object” within the ecosystem. The important challenge for the organizations is to integrate both experiences across a wide range of connected devices and to provide them with a high level of smart functionality for an improved user experience.
Relevance of Conversational User Interfaces with IoT-
Conversational user interfaces are used in Instant Messaging (IM) apps like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Line, Snapchat, and Telegram which have been incredibly popular and continue to grow. IM services have more active users than any other internet application, including social networking sites and email clients. Chatbot Applications, which are built on top of pre-existing platforms, benefit from the widespread acceptance of chat-based interfaces. As a result, the global expansion of chat platforms only fuels the desire to create intriguing chatbot applications and use cases.
On a side note, advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI), particularly in Natural Language Processing (NLP), have improved the efficiency and quality of Chatbots in terms of conversational simplicity, adaptability, and the capacity to allow users to express complex requests using natural language. Chatbots and IoT use very simple, frequently RESTful Web APIs to deliver their services.
Here are some of the reasoning behind the implementation of chatbots and IoT-
1. For both IoT and Chatbots, developers can use an API or service-oriented approach. This means that application development approaches would be the same for embedded devices as they would be for any web service, including Chatbots that use Web APIs, particularly those that use RESTful designs.
2. The development and deployment of chatbots, as well as IoT applications, can be made quick and easy using cloud platforms, eliminating the need to worry about underlying technologies such as Transport Layer, Storage, and Processing.
3. The use of HTTP RESTful protocols as the only channel for integrating chatbots into IoT systems has become technologically feasible and straightforward thanks to the development of HTTP RESTful standards.
4. The ability to synchronize chatbot apps within IoT platforms and frameworks is a fundamental motivator for developing platforms and frameworks that can do so.
Benefits of implementing Chatbots with the Internet of Things (IoT) Interface:
The Internet of Things is a collection of smart devices that we employ in our everyday lives, and by integrating chatbots into the IoT interface, information and data can be exchanged in a more efficient way, and this will occur throughout the day since chatbots rarely tire!
Smart IoT devices can be operated with ordinary language without the user having to memorize complicated commands and information required for establishing intent. The devices that users use on a daily basis can be seamlessly integrated for them to perform various kinds of tasks and make queries.
A chatbot can understand simple language or gestures or autocorrect typos in the case of a messaging app and can even comprehend common slang. Bots can also self-regulate their responses. Therefore, as the chatbox interacts more with the users, it becomes more intuitive and understands the context better. Although the entire command may not be entered, it can understand the intent exactly.
Chatbots can refine user requests for subsequent contact via the IoT interface, for example, If a user receives information from a gadget about something, he or she can ask it a question in natural language, and a smart chatbot will respond if it has the necessary expertise. In comparison to traditional design interfaces, which have issues with information abstraction, this has smoothed interactions with chatbots via IoT.
Conclusion-
Smart chatbots are the way of the future and merging them with IoT can provide benefits that are unbelievable. It can reduce response time by eliminating paraphrasing or asking questions that it already knows the answer to, and it can work from anywhere, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It is the time of the future. It makes sense to deploy chatbots to take care of consumers and replace bots with human agents.
