Needs Companion: A Novel Approach to Continuous User Needs Sensing Using Virtual Agents and Large Language Models.

Journal: Sensors (Basel, Switzerland)
PMID:

Abstract

In today's world, services are essential in daily life, and identifying each person's unique needs is key to creating a human-centered society. Traditional research has used machine learning to recommend services based on user behavior logs without directly detecting individual needs. This study introduces a system called Needs Companion, which automatically detects individual service needs, laying the groundwork for accurate needs sensing. The system defines a needs data model based on the 6W1H framework, uses virtual agents for needs elicitation, and applies large language models (LLMs) to analyze and automatically extract needs. Experiments showed that the system could detect needs accurately and quickly. This research provides interpretable data for personalized services and contributes to fields like machine learning, human-centered design, and requirements engineering.

Authors

  • Takuya Nakata
    Graduate School of Engineering, Kobe University, 1-1 Rokkodai-cho, Nada-ku, Kobe 657-8501, Hyogo, Japan.
  • Masahide Nakamura
    The Center of Mathematical and Data Science, Kobe University, 1-1 Rokkodai-cho, Nada-ku, Kobe 657-8501, Hyogo, Japan.
  • Sinan Chen
    The Center of Mathematical and Data Science, Kobe University, 1-1 Rokkodai-cho, Nada-ku, Kobe 657-8501, Hyogo, Japan.
  • Sachio Saiki
    Department of Data & Innovation, Kochi University of Technology, 185 Miyanokuchi, Tosayamada-cho, Kami 782-8502, Kochi, Japan.