Israelis, Italians team up for museum guide

Israeli and Italian academics invented an individualized museum guide that employs artificial intelligence. Haifa University announced Thursday that technology experts from its Caesarea Rothschild Institute, along with counterparts from the Instituto Trentino di Cultura, or ITC-irst of Trento, had developed a handheld computer that can pinpoint a visitor’s location in a museum, find out what interests him or her, play video clips and explanatory presentations, and enable communication with friends in other parts of the museum. Using this accrued knowledge, the guide can tailor future museum visits to the user’s preferences.A prototype was unveiled this week in Haifa University’s Hecht Museum. A cooperative agreement between the Caesarea Rothschild Institute and ITC-irst was first signed three years ago with the goal of developing technological applications for cultural institutions and events.