Mobile Speech and the Armed Services: Making a Case for Adding Siri-like Features to VAMTA (Voice-Activated Medical Tracking Application)

In this chapter we take a look at how to improve VAMTA (voice-activated medical tracking application), a program we introduced several years ago which has been successfully adopted by the military, by adding natural language capabilities that would enable VAMTA to perform as a personal assistant and knowledge navigator in the medical-military mobile environment. We consider some of the key functions of a Siri-enhanced VAMTA, which would use a natural language interface to answer questions, make recommendations and perform actions by delegating requests to a set of Web services. We explore the use of fuzzy linguistic ontologies for natural language applications, which would enable this natural language driven medical tracking program to fulfill a wide range of tasks for military personnel in a mobile setting.