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Do It Yourself, but Not Alone: Companion-Technology for Home Improvement—Bringing a Planning-Based Interactive DIY Assistant to Life

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Abstract

We report on the technology transfer project “Do it yourself, but not alone: Companion-Technology for Home Improvement” that was carried out by Ulm University in cooperation with Robert Bosch GmbH. We developed a prototypical assistance system that assists a Do It Yourself (DIY) handyman in carrying out DIY projects. The assistant, based on various AI and dialog management capabilities, generates a sequence of detailed instructions that users may just follow or adapt according to their individual preferences. It features explanation capabilities as well as pro-active support based on communication with the user as well as with the involved tools. We report on the project’s main achievements, including the findings of various empirical studies conducted in various development stages of the prototype.

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Acknowledgements

This work was partly funded by the technology transfer project “Do it yourself, but not alone: Companion-Technology for Home Improvement” of the CRC/TRR 62 funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). The industrial project partner is the Corporate Research Sector of the Robert Bosch GmbH.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Australian National University, College of Engineering and Computer Science, Canberra, Australia

    Pascal Bercher

  2. University of Freiburg, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany

    Gregor Behnke

  3. Institute of Communications Engineering, Ulm University, Ulm, Germany

    Matthias Kraus & Wolfgang Minker

  4. Robert Bosch GmbH, Corporate Research Sector, Renningen, Stuttgart, Germany

    Marvin Schiller, Dietrich Manstetten, Michael Dambier & Michael Dorna

  5. Institute of Artificial Intelligence, Ulm University, Ulm, Germany

    Birte Glimm & Susanne Biundo

Authors
  1. Pascal Bercher
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  2. Gregor Behnke
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  3. Matthias Kraus
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  4. Marvin Schiller
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  5. Dietrich Manstetten
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  6. Michael Dambier
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  7. Michael Dorna
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  8. Wolfgang Minker
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  9. Birte Glimm
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  10. Susanne Biundo
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Pascal Bercher.

Additional information

P. Bercher, G. Behnke: Most results described were achieved while still at Ulm University.

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Bercher, P., Behnke, G., Kraus, M. et al. Do It Yourself, but Not Alone: Companion-Technology for Home Improvement—Bringing a Planning-Based Interactive DIY Assistant to Life. Künstl Intell 35, 367–375 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13218-021-00721-x

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