Sentient ComputingAndy Hopper

Presenter : Youn Do LeeOct 31, 2005

Why this presentation

There have been many presentations about location systems Active bat, Active badge, Cricket, Radfinder, et

c. This presentation is about issues beyond the

location systems Refining location information What to do with location information

Contents

INTRODUCTION REASERCH ISSUES

Location sensing Spatial monitoring Data distribution Applications

OBSERVATION

Sentient Computing?

Sentient computing is The proposition that applications can be

made more responsive and useful by observing and reacting to the physical world

A form of ubiquitous computing which uses sensors to perceive its environment and react accordingly

Sentient computing project

AT & T Laboratories Cambridge Active bats Follow-me systems Now defunct Reference

Mike Addlesee , Rupert Curwen , Steve Hodges , Joe Newman , Pete Steggles , Andy Ward , Andy Hopper, Implementing a Sentient Computing System, IEEE Computer Magazine, v.34 n.8, p.50-56, August 2001

Location Sensing

Categorising the concept of location Containment

Active badge, Cricket Proximity

Bluetooth Co-ordinate

GPS, Active bat

Active badge

Active bat

Spatial monitoring

Location systems provide raw spatial facts about objects

But location-aware applications need more than raw spatial data They need spatial relationships between

objects that are significant

How to decide whether a spatial relationship is significant

Spatial monitoring (cont’d)

One possible approach Operating on the basis of zones of

containment surrounding objects

Person X is “holding”Keyboard K

Person X can be “seen” by camera Bbut not by camera A

Data distribution

Beyond location-publishing application An automatic control of the digital

environment without user intervention For example

The personal desktop follows the user to any nearby device

To archive this, A platform for connecting and displaying information on all these devices are needed in addition to location information

Data distribution (cont’d)

VNC (Virtual Network Computer) A simple device independent protocol

The viewer has no state, and simply displays information graphically

The connection from viewer to server is

also stateless, just keystrokes and pointer clicks

Applications

Opening and closing doors automatically A textual indication of where someone is,

how fast the are moving, how long they have been there

Showing the local context, including who and what else is nearby

Personalization by teleporting VNC desktops Surveillance applications which the selection

of a particular camera is based on spatial data

Contents

INTRODUCTION REASERCH ISSUES

Location sensing Spatial monitoring Data distribution Applications

OBSERVATION

Observation

Attempts at automatic control without user intervention have not proved enduring Automatically teleporting to the nearest screen Automatic routing of phone calls

Once more than a simple inference is attempted it seems that hit a brick wall The sighting of three or more Active Badges in a

single space => “meeting” ?

Observation (cont’d)

One potential research direction is to provide much more feedback to the user Visual and aural feedback with perhaps every

nearby wall being used display may be one approach

The user can interact in a much more informed way and help guide any decision-making process

Perhaps a way to make progress beyond the engineering level is to imagine a “perfect” sensing system with full coverage of the environment

Thank you, any question?