The document discusses research at ETRO on technology for ambient intelligence systems, including the HAL-9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey and its successor the AMI-9000. Current research areas include speech recognition and synthesis, emotion recognition from speech, facial analysis and synthesis, and using these techniques to create embodied conversational agents. The goal is for systems like the AMI-9000 to monitor surroundings, understand speech and emotions, and provide assistance tailored to each user.