["Let Duplex do the talking"}

How many of you have watched Westworld- the tv series? It is currently one of the best tv series to watch out. It is basically about a theme park where many human looking robots functioning on AI technology live and the guests or real human beings visit this park to exploit the hosts or the robots. One day the robots gain consciousness through a software defect and they go on a rampage to kill the humans. So as you see this what happens when we depend too much on AI, robots.

There are many technologies used nowadays where we depend much on the AI like google now, siri, self-driving cars, alexa like personal assistants and etc. Google recently launched an AI application which can make our life easier as we would now not need to make every one of our important calls as google Duplex can do it without any difficulty.

What is google Duplex?

Google duplex can make real life communication with a human. It is not the already inserted computer generated voices that we hear when we make some calls. Duplex is also computer generated voice but with a touch of AI. So it can really interact with us and answer our questions naturally with words like ”hmm” and “uh” available in its software to make the interaction more human like such that we will get confused whether we are talking to a robot or a human. It is linked to Google assistant but is more than that. Google assistant can schedule a remainder for us to make a call at a particular time but it cannot call that particular person at that particular time or any time. But duplex can do it.

Duplex can make appointments for you like in hotels, restaurants, salons, cinema halls and this conversation was shown by google live at their launch event where duplex made live real world conversation in booking appointments at a hair salon and a restaurant. Duplex really talked to the reception of a hair salon and a restaurant in California and made bookings for owner. 
hair salon conversation  

restaurant conversation

We humans can talk to duplex like we are talking to normal human without adjusting our way of talking like when we converse with a computer generated voice.

Current changes being done

The natural conversation between humans has many breaks and complex words, loud and fast conversation which maybe a problem when duplex talks with humans in those conditions so google is doing lots of experiments and research to make the duplex the perfect tool for conversation.

Duplex will introduce itself like “Hi, I'm the Google Assistant, calling to make a reservation for a client. This automated call will be recorded”

How is it perfect?

The duplex system is so perfect that it is monitoring every call and recording so that it can be used in the future conversations without any error. These recordings are also used by google to bring changes in its map and other variables like timing column to benefit other customers too. And if the duplex is finding any conversation difficult, it can transfer it to the human so that he/she can complete it. We can even use google assistant which is directly linked to the google duplex. So we just have to remind google assistant to book an appointment at this time to this particular place and google assistant will schedule the google duplex to do the necessary task.

It can also help the hearing impaired and people who are not familiar to a local language to make the proper bookings.

Flaws in using duplex

There is a problem of privacy which is associated with duplex. As google duplex records the conversation, it invades privacy and breaks many laws. But google says that they will analyze the recordings and destroy it ASAP.

First there were no communication devices like mobiles, so people used to visit each other in person and that’s how they interacted. Then came cell phones through which they could contact any person in any part of the world. So with that live interaction or visiting a person slowly decreased. Then came the smart phones with smart apps through which humans could chat, write messages instead of calling them directly. It saved time and so the real interaction between people decreased more. Now here comes the duplex through which robots will interact for us and we can be busy in our other daily activities.

Google duplex is basically the advanced intelligent version of chatbot. It is going to be released to public in this summer.  For more information visit googleduplex

An athlete’s worst nightmare

If you are a sportsman, then once or many times during your professional period, you will definitely undergo one or the other kind of injury. There are many types of injury that happen to an athlete, but the most famous one is the ACL or anterior cruciate ligament injury. It is painful but not that much if you take proper care by following the doctor. Female athletes are more prone to ACL injury because of their internal body structure which is different from male. 

                                       

So ACL is located right between our knees. It is in the front part of the legs between the lower(shin) bones and the upper knee(thigh) bones. This ligament helps in bending of our legs properly. A tear to ACL can lock our legs and create problems during walking, leading to twisting of legs. ACL helps in keeping up knee joint stability.

                             

ACL is one of the ligaments in X shaped (cross-section) located with PCL in the backside of the knee. ACL injury is a common injury nowadays with over 1 million cases reported in India alone. But there is modern day surgery and proper medication available which will make any person get back to that athletic guy with no problems in the knee part. Footballers can play football and basketball players basketball without any slight difficulty after the ACL surgery.

                                             

Causes:

1. Sudden hit to the knee part like falling on the ground on the knee part.

2. Landing from a jump the wrong way.

3. Suddenly changing the direction of your knee after a fast run or walk.

4. Someone hits or tackles you at the foot part like in football.

 

Symptoms:

1. Pain, the first thing that happens when you hit your knee and have a ACL injury is the severe pain that you feel when you start to stand or even walk. So avoid pressure on the injured leg after the injury.

2. Swelling, within few hours of the injury you will have swelling around the knee. Putting ice pack around that part for the next few weeks will reduce the swelling.

3. Walking and bending troubles, you will have to put less pressure on the injured leg by not putting the leg on the ground and placing a knee brace around the knee part so that the leg will be in straight position all the time till recovery.

Possible treatments:

1. Knee bracing, it is the first treatment that is done incase of ACL injury. It is a kind of plastic brace that is worn around the knees to keep the injured leg in straight position (stable) always and to prevent further damage to the knee. They are used before the surgery and after the surgery too. It can help in regaining the strength of the muscles near the knee.

2. Surgery, it is done when there is complete tear of the ACL which mostly occurs. The surgeons will take some part from the near regions like hamstring or groin region and create a new ligament to be placed in the injured part as the new ACL. It is done by creating a hole in the knee and placing the ligament and screwing it the right place.

3. Physiotherapy, it is done by qualified physiotherapist to make your leg work properly through exercises and stretching. This helps in making your injured part stronger so that you can walk, run, cycle and do other heavy activities without any stress as you were doing before the ACL injury.

4. Rest, it is the most important treatment that is needed before the surgery and even after the surgery to make natural healing. It will help proper blood supply to inured section.

There are many athletes who have made major comebacks in various sports after undergoing ACL injury. Some of them are:

1. Tom Brady of the super bowl. In 2008 he had ACL and MCL injury. In 2015 he came back and was awarded the MVP.

2. Zlatan Ibrohimavich, the soccer player. The famous Swedish soccer player had undergone a major ACL injury and made his comeback in 2015 with Manchester united.

3. Danny Ings, Liverpool striker. His career was in doubt because of the injury he suffered, but in 2018 he came back and scored 3 goals for Liverpool.

4. Cheteshwar Pujara, Indian Cricketer. It took him 6 months to recover from ACL injury on both his knees, but he came back and set many Test cricket records for India.

5. Tiger Woods, American golfer. During 2007 British open, he had ACL tear issue in left knee but still he came back and set many records winning 5-6 events.

6. Micky Mantle, Baseball legend. He continued to play for 17 years after his ACL injury in 1951.

7. Xavier Hernandez or Xavi, well- known Spanish and Barcelona soccer player. In 2006 his ACL injury left him out of the field for 6 months. But he came back and won many trophies for Barcelona and even World Cup for Spain in 2010.

8. Derrick Rose, American basketball player. He tore his ACL in 2012 which had been treated and now he plays for New York knicks and is also a MVP.

9. Alan Shearer, famous English soccer player. In 1992 he had ACL issue, but after few months of proper medication and rest, he came back and scored around 260 club goals and many more for the country.

So, finally to end I would like to say that, Drive your two-wheelers carefully by looking at all the possible obstructions that can come in your way like a hanging wire. Avoid driving during stormy days which can lead to ACL injury.