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Live agent mode is a continuous, low-latency audio and video session with Bird on your mobile device. Unlike the standard chat interface — where you type a question and wait for a response — live mode is conversational. You can talk through an experiment, describe what’s on an instrument display, or ask follow-up questions without stopping to type. With video enabled, Bird can see what your camera sees and respond to visual context: “What’s the reading on that display?” or “Does this sample look contaminated to you?” are reasonable things to ask.

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When to use it

  • You’re mid-experiment and want to talk through your observations
  • You need to describe something visual that would be difficult to type
  • You want Bird to track key observations while you work
  • You want a real-time second opinion before moving to the next step
  • You need longer than the 30-minute voice capture limit

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How to start a live session

1

Open Bower on your phone

Go to app.bowerlabs.ai in your mobile browser, or open from your home screen.
2

Tap Live in the bottom navigation

3

Choose your mode

Select Audio only or Audio + Video.
4

Allow access

Allow microphone (and camera, if video) access when prompted.
5

Start talking

Bird is listening and can respond in real time.

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Video awareness

With video enabled, Bird processes your camera feed in real time. It can:
  • Read values from instrument displays you point the camera at
  • Describe what it sees when asked
  • Flag visual anomalies if you ask it to watch for them
Bird will not act on visual information unprompted — it responds when you ask.

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Capturing notes during a session

You can ask Bird to capture what it sees or hears at any point during a live session:
  • “Take a snapshot” — Bird captures the current camera frame and saves it as an attachment in your workspace.
  • “Create a note from what we just discussed” — Bird creates a note with the key points from your conversation.
  • You can also capture a photo manually during the session.

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Standby mode

When you need to pause — to have a private conversation, take a phone call, or step away — put Bird in standby. In standby, no audio, video, or any other data is sent from your device. The live stream is fully paused. Your microphone and camera are not active.
  • To enter standby: Tap the standby button on screen, or say “Standby Bird”
  • To wake Bird: Say “Hello Bird”, or tap the standby button again to resume manually
The wake word “Hello Bird” is detected locally on your device — it does not require streaming audio to a server. Only once the wake word is recognised does the live stream resume. This means you can keep your phone in your pocket with headphones, or leave it on the lab bench, and Bird will only listen when you want it to. Standby is useful for long lab sessions where you want Bird available but not always active.

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What’s saved

During a live session, notes and snapshots are only saved when you explicitly ask Bird to capture them. Nothing is automatically saved — you decide what’s worth keeping. All captured notes and snapshots are searchable immediately.