Technology has evolved a lot since then, but closets have been largely untouched by innovation. Now, that's starting to change. "If algorithms do their job well, people will spend less time thinking about what to wear," said Ranjitha Kumar, an assistant professor in the Department of Computer Scie...

John Deere Dubuque Works (Dubuque, Iowa), a manufacturer of agriculture and industrial equipment, has implemented a virtual-reality system to use in its construction division. The system enables John Deere to use virtual-product prototypes to assess key design factors in construction equipment, such as visibility and the ability to reach controls. Nabisco Biscuit (East Hanover, N.J.), a manufacturer of cookies and crackers, has installed an intelligent process-operating guidelines (POG) system. This POG system uses expert system technology to provide realtime process control information to the bakeries. Automotive manufacturer Ford Powertrain Operations (Dearborn, Mich.) has developed a flexible manufacturing system that is being controlled by an intelligent cell controller.

Similar systems are being installed at other Texaco sites. Lear Astronics (Santa Monica and Ontario, Calif.) is combining neural networks with virtual reality to enhance its Autonomous Landing Guidance (ALG) system. Lear Astronics is using a neural network-based massively parallel coprocessor for real-time image processing in the ALG system, which enables commercial and military aircraft pilots to land in foggy conditions. Researchers at Georgia Tech (Atlanta, Ga.) have created intelligent agent software called the Technology Opportunities Analysis Knowbot (TOAK) that provides profiles of the latest technological trends and opportunities. TOAK navigates through multiple networks and across diverse computer systems to perform specific search tasks for the user.

BNR Europe (Harlow, England), the R&D subsidiary of telecommunications equipment supplier Northern Telecom, is using virtual reality technology for equipment installation planning. The VR system allows BNR's engineers to visualize complex installations and how they will work, greatly saving time and effort compared to the traditional CAD system. Continental Bank (Chicago, Ill.) has developed a client/server-based intelligent application to improve the quality of its customer service. Thanks to an expert system, the bank's service management staff has immediate access to customers' cash management account information online. Anderson Memorial Hospital (Anderson, S.C.) had implemented a neural network-based hospital information and patient prediction system which has improved the quality of care, reduced the death rate and saved the facility millions of dollars in resources.

The system will help eliminate avoidable pollution and save pharmaceutical and chemical manufacturers millions of dollars. The Batch Design Kit will be commercially available in the summer of 1995. Photosound (Saffron-Walden, England) is using virtual reality to simulate and visualize the effects of different pharmaceutical drugs on the human body. The results are being used as the focal point of exhibition stands designed by Photosound for such pharmaceutical firms as Smith-Kline Beecham. Westinghouse Electric (Pittsburgh, Penn.) and Carnegie Group (Pittsburgh, Penn.) are working with the Pittsburgh Cancer Institute on a knowledge-based intelligent system for the management of national clinical trials.

Prairie Virtual Systems Corp. (Chicago, Ill.) has developed a barrier-free design virtual reality system that checks building access. The system, which helps designers meet the requirements of the American with Disabilities Act, assists in the design of interiors that are accessible and safe. It allows users to travel through a virtual world that simulates a proposed interior environment. United Technologies Corp. (Hartford, Conn.) has developed intelligent maintenance aiding technology to reduce operation and support costs and increase the availability of complex equipment, systems and processes. The company is applying AI and expert systems technology in the development, manufacture and support of products using a patented AI technique called qualitative reasoning, which compares faulty operations to knowledge about how a system normally operates.

Technology has evolved a lot since then, but closets have been largely untouched by innovation. Now, that's starting to change. "If algorithms do their job well, people will spend less time thinking about what to wear," said Ranjitha Kumar, an assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. From artificial intelligence and gadgets to smart fabrics and virtual reality, technology is poised to breathe innovation into not only how we dress but how we shop. The most recognizable example is Amazon's Echo Look, which received significant buzz when it was announced earlier this year.

Last week researchers from MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) presented a virtual reality (VR) system that lets you teleoperate a robot using an Oculus Rift headset. The system embeds the user in a VR control room with multiple sensor displays, making it feel like they're inside the robot's head. While it's a peculiar idea for humans, for robots it fits: Inside the robot is a human in a virtual control room, seeing through its eyes and controlling its actions. To make these movements possible, the human's space is mapped into the virtual space, and the virtual space is then mapped into the robot space to provide a sense of co-location.

Plus, it pretty much lets users control a robot from the inside of a simulated virtual cockpit. Likewise, the MIT CSAIL setup sets users up in a VR headset and places them in a virtual control room. In essence, it simulates placing the user inside the robot, which should be easier for humans to spatially comprehend than having their hand motions directly correspond to robot motions. The researchers designed the setup with manufacturing applications in mind.

Intimate computing is when it knows you. While today's sales assistant is a device, such as a smartphone or a laptop, within 10 years it will become something you can talk to, similar to the Amazon Echo. It will be as if you have someone whispering real-time sales intelligence in your ear. That's why my preferred term is not artificial intelligence but augmented intelligence, because this technology actually makes the human salesperson much more capable by augmenting them.