
Using the Mechanical Turk experimentation technique is not about tricking or deceiving your customers. This allows you to quickly understand if customers will use your solution, and how customers use your solution. Instead of building out your technology solution, you simulate the core experience of the solution using ‘human labour’. The Mechanical Turk experimentation technique is a great way to be able to achieve this objective with little investment in time or money. Is there any customer demand for your new idea? Are customers interested? To begin, you want to understand if your target customers will even use your new solution.

If you can’t do this, then maybe your big idea isn’t so great. You should always be aiming to progressively de-risk your assumptions, while at the same time increasing your confidence levels. The approach for a complex, technical solution shouldn’t be any different.
IBM SPEECH TO TEXT PROTOTYPE SOFTWARE
“Testing customer demand and interest in a solution before development is becoming an increasingly common approach to new product development, particularly for new digital technologies and software solutions”. You want to test the solution before you develop it. There are so many questions that you need to answer before you build anything.Īre my assumptions correct? Will customers use the product? How do customers use the product? Will customers potentially pay for the product?Įarly feedback and learning is important. You don’t want to waste a whole lot of time and money on something that customers may not even want. Imagine you’ve got a great idea for a complicated technical solution.īuilding your new solution will require a lot of money, in addition to a significant commitment of time. This was Artificial Intelligence 17th Century style. The chessboard on top of the cabinet was thin enough that the chess master could see the positioning of all the pieces using a network of magnets and string.Ĭorresponding numbers on the underneath of the chess board allowed the chess master to track an opponent’s move. Hidden compartments in the cabinet enabled the chess master to conceal themselves, avoiding detection. The design allowed the presenter to open all the drawers and compartments to the audience to maintain the illusion.Ī human chess master was positioned inside the large, empty compartment. This area was purposefully designed to provide an unobstructed view from front to back, further convincing the audience that no deception was involved. On the right-hand side of the cabinet was an empty compartment. When the Mechanical Turk moved a chess piece, the cogs and gears would move like clockwork machinery, providing the appearance of mechanical automation.
IBM SPEECH TO TEXT PROTOTYPE SERIES
When opening the cabinet on the left, there was a series of gears and cogs. The inner workings of the machine were deliberately complex, designed to mislead the audience when viewing it. Inside the cabinet were a series of drawers and compartments. On top of the cabinet was the chessboard. The machine consisted of a life-sized human head and torso, dressed in Ottoman robes and a turban.

The Mechanical Turk defeated many strong challengers, famously beating Benjamin Franklin and Napoleon.Īll was not as it seemed. The Mechanical Turk won most of its demonstrations around Europe and the Americas over a period of 84 years. The machine appeared to be able to play a strong game of chess against a human opponent, while also perform the Knight’s Tour, a puzzle that requires the player to move a knight to occupy every square of the chessboard once. The Mechanical Turk was first unveiled in 1770 by Wolfgang von Kempelen to impress empress Maria Theresa of Austria. The Turk, Mechanical Turk or Automaton Chess Player was a chess playing machine that was constructed in the 18th Century. The challenges with Mechanical Turk experiments In this article we’ll discuss the following: You want customers to think that they’re interacting with the real deal.Ĭustomers are presented with a technical solution, while behind the scenes ‘human labour’ is what makes the solution work. The Mechanical Turk is a type of experiment that allows you to test your solution before you have built the finished product.įake it, before you make it, is the theme of the Mechanical Turk experiment. In these types of scenarios its best to test your solution with your target market before building so that you can start to validate your assumptions.

Consequently, there’s a lot of business risk involved. My Proven Method For Writing An Experiment Hypothesisīuilding complex technical solutions requires a big investment in time and money.

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