Companion technology

Abstract

The central concept of this contribution is Companion technology. This is understood as the background of a new class of cognitive systems which we correspondingly call Companion systems. Such systems are characterized by their abilities to adapt to the requirements of their (corresponding) user, which changes with time and situation. In particular, Companion systems respond appropriately to users' abilities, preferences, and current needs. Their technical functionalities reflect changes in the environment or of the user's disposition. This can be summarized in Companion - characteristics such as competence, individuality, cooperativeness, adaptability, availability, and trustworthiness. To achieve that performance, Companion systems model cognitive processes. Among others, they perceive and model the user and the environment; they assess the overall situation and the alternatives of action; they actively mine background knowledge; they follow and adapt goal-oriented plans of action; and they communicate in open dialogs with all other involved agents, exhibiting multimodal behavior by choosing suitable media, interaction, and dialog strategies. This chapter presents the concepts of Companion technology and illustrates the wide spectrum of its concepts and applications.