Intelligent Environment

ABSTRACT In this paper a fuzzy control and an obstacle avoidance system, together with a distributed system of embedded microcontrollers, are presented. In the real-time control, a wheeled mobile robot (WMR), PeopleBot from Mobile Robots, has been used. The solution adopted can be easily ported for the implementation of an intelligent wheelchair, capable either to carry an elderly or disabled person, or to move independently in a smart environment, as a sensorial extension of the assisted individual. A number of control modules are located on the mobile robot, while others are deployed in an intelligent environment. This solution can significantly reduce the cost of developing a robotic assistant for the elderly and disabled. The structure of the real-time setup is described in detail, as well as the main algorithms used for each individual task: path following, obstacle avoidance, data acquisition. Also, an obstacle avoidance system, based on ricochet method, named “the bubble rebound method”, is presented.

Recent advances in the area of mobile ad hoc computing and pervasive computing have driven the emergence of new challenges. For example, the “Intelligent Environment” or “Smart Environment” has become one of the key research areas in the pervasive computing arena. Mobile ad hoc scenarios also include time-critical applications such as an autonomous vehicle system in which vehicles are able to operate independently and cooperate with each other to avoid collisions. In this paper, we present a context-aware middleware architecture for the support of both pervasive and mobile ad hoc environments.

We describe a novel life-long learning approach for intelligent agents that are embedded in intelligent environments. The agents aim to realize the vision of ambient intelligence in intelligent inhabited environments (IIE) by providing ubiquitous computing intelligence in the environment supporting the activities of the user. An unsupervised, data-driven, fuzzy technique is proposed for extracting fuzzy membership functions and rules that represent the user's particularized behaviors in the environment. The user's learned behaviors can then be adapted online in a life-long mode to satisfy the different user and system objectives. We have performed unique experiments in which the intelligent agent has learned and adapted to the user's behavior, during a stay of five consecutive days in the intelligent dormitory (iDorm), which is a real ubiquitous computing environment test bed. Both offline and online experimental results are presented comparing the performance of our technique with other approaches. The results show that our proposed system has outperformed the other approaches, while operating online in a life-long mode to realize the ambient intelligence vision.

Abstract. Technology within museums can improve human cognition by supporting the experiential mode more than the analitic one. In order to exploit this powerful concept our approach is based on empathy and" mimesis". This work explores issues of audio-guide adaptivity based on physical navigation and information browsing. The goal is to design an augmented reality system that is able to transform the museum into an intelligent environment, which can integrate individual needs and collective behaviors. Physical ...

This paper describes the development of a novel robotic workstation which users configure to a variety of spatial forms. These configurations allow users to define their physical workspace as well as to situate computer and analogue tools precisely to support ...

Computer programming is an important component of statistics research and data analysis. This skill is necessary for using sophisticated statistical packages as well as for writing custom software for data analysis. Emacs Speaks Statistics (ESS) provides an intelligent and consistent interface between the user and software. ESS interfaces with SAS, S-PLUS, R, and other statistics packages under the Unix, Microsoft Windows, and Apple Mac operating systems. ESS extends the Emacs text editor and uses its many features to streamline the creation and use of statistical software. ESS understands the syntax for each data analysis language it works with and provides consistent display and editing features across packages. ESS assists in the interactive or batch execution by the statistics packages of statements written in their languages. Some statistics packages can be run as a subprocess of Emacs, allowing the user to work directly from the editor and thereby retain a consistent and const...

This paper presents a new proposal for positioning and guiding mobile robots in indoor environments. The proposal is based on the information provided by static cameras located in the movement environment. This proposal falls within the scope of what are known as intelligent environments; in this case, the environment is provided with cameras that, once calibrated, allow the position of the robots to be obtained. Based on this information, control orders for the robots can be generated using a radio frequency link. In order to facilitate identification of the robots, even under extremely adverse ambient lighting conditions, a beacon consisting of four circular elements constructed from infrared diodes is mounted on board the robots. In order to identify the beacon, an edge detection process is carried out. This is followed by a process that, based on the algebraic distance, obtains the estimated ellipses associated with each element of the beacon. Once the beacon has been identified, the coordinates of the centroids for the elements that make up the beacon are obtained on the various image planes. Based on these coordinates, an algorithm is proposed that takes into account the standard deviation of the error produced in the various cameras in ascertaining the coordinates of the beacon’s elements. An odometric system is also used in guidance that, in conjunction with a Kalman Filter, allows the position of the robot to be estimated during the time intervals required to process the visual information provided by the cameras.

Over the last years, a variety of pervasive games was developed. Al- though some of these applications were quite successful in bringing digital games back to the real world, very little is known about their successful integration into smart environments. When developing video games, developers can make use of a broad variety of heuristics. Using these heuristics to guide the development process of applications for intelligent environments could significantly increase their func- tional quality. This paper addresses the question, whether existing heuristics can be used by pervasive game developers, or if specific design guidelines for smart home environments are required. In order to give an answer, the transferability of video game heuristics was evaluated in a two-step process. In a first step, a set of validated heuristics was analyzed to identify platform-dependent elements. In a second step, the transferability of those elements was assessed in a focus group study.