Ambient Intelligence

Abstract
Ambient intelligence refers to electronic environments that and menus. Ambient intelligent systems must be intuitive
are sensitive and responsive to the presence of people. AMI
and easy to use so that the individual can interact with the
points to digital environments that include real life.
Ambient intelligence is one such area where there will be a services without effort.
human-machine interaction in a more user friendly way
where electronic devices tend to adapt to your behavior Privacy, identity, security and trust are central key issues in
automatically. So, how do you think this wonderful ambient intelligence visions and have been identified as
intelligent technology has been conceived? In 1998 Philips such from their earliest inception (Weiser, 1993).Many in
Research introduced ‘Ambient Intelligence’ as its idea of the research and development community clearly recognize
where developments in electronics would eventually take the inherent challenge that an invisible, intuitive and
us. Ambient System architecture mainly composes of four pervasive system of networked computers holds for current
characteristics- social norms and values concerning privacy and
surveillance. So, what kind of changes in privacy
 Ubiquitous computing expectations will replace the current expectations when
 Ubiquitous communication AMI technologies become a common part of our lives?
 Intelligent user interface Whatever they will be, changes in people’s expectations of
 Network communication privacy will happen more slowly than technology
capabilities grow, as experiments in computer-supported
In order to perform assistive tasks, the system will be collaborative work have shown.
composed of a set of distributed sensors (e.g., cameras and
microphones), robots (e.g., humanoid robots) and other Introduction
devices (e.g. touch screens) of different types, all of them
integrated in a networked intelligent environment in order Ambient intelligence refers to electronic environments that
to provide assistance in a individualized or synchronized are sensitive and responsive to the presence of people.
manner. This distributed system will be internally Ambient intelligence is a vision of the future of consumer
connected through a custom network protocol known as electronics, tele communications and computing that was
SNRP (Simple Network Robot Protocol). This will allow originally developed in the late 1990s for the time frame
different robots can be easily connected to the system in a
2010-2020.
scalable and dynamic manner. Ambient Intelligence is
rapidly finding its growth in various fields like
History
telecommunications, science, electronics and medicine.
Ambient intelligence is soon finding its applications in
In 1998, the board of management of Philips commissioned
pervasive computing and electronic healthcare systems.
Some other technologies where ambient intelligence is a series of presentations and internal workshops organized
widely used is worldblue bluetooth mania and augmented by Eli Zelkha and Brian Epstein of Palo Alto Ventures just
reality. Augmented reality is a technology that blends with a basic idea to transform the high volume consumer
virtually generated and real-world data together. electronic industry from the current electronic world into a
world in 2020 where user friendly devices support
Key to delivering ambient intelligence to users is being ubiquitous information, communication and entertainment.
able to provide what is wanted, when, where and how it is
wanted. However user control is paramount so they can What exactly is Ambient Intelligence?
decide what information they want and whether or not they
AMI can be described as the integration of technology into
want to receive it at any given point. Users must not have our environment, so that the people can freely and
to understand the technology to use it and most will have interactively utilize it. In concrete terms, ambient
no desire to think about it. Information should be delivered intelligence is provided by a large number of small
to the users on their own existing devices (such as a mobile intelligent devices, built-in into our surroundings. These
phone). Therefore interfaces must be straightforward and devices have three important characteristics they can be
meaningful without the user being overwhelmed by options personalized, adaptive and anticipatory. It implies a
seamless environment of computing and advanced
networking technology that is aware of human presence,
personalities, needs and is capable of responding
intelligently to spoken or gestured indications of desire,
and even in engaging in intelligent dialogue.

Fig 2 Launched in 2004, the Flat TV with Ambilight is one of the

first examples of Philips' Ambient Intelligence products. The stylish
TV projects soft light onto the wall behind that matches the colors of
the program. It has also been medically proven to calm the viewer's
eyes.

Research Groups
Fig 1 An image depicting human- machine interaction in a more user
friendly way.
Several research groups have been founded to tackle the
Ambient Intelligence is composed of following four sub- question of the manifestation of ambient intelligence. Some
components- of them are-

 Ubiquitous Computing- It is the integration of  National University of Singapore MIMOSA

ambient agents (embedded devices) in our every PROJECT- Microsystem Platform for mobile
day life. It refers to the creation and deployment services and applications.
of computing technology in such a way that it  MIT Media Lab- Ambient Intelligence Group.
becomes an invisible part of the fabric of everyday  SWAMI- Safeguards in a world of Ambient
life and commerce. In short ubiquitous computing Intelligence.
provides computing for all- access to anything, by  Philips Research, Ambient Intelligence research in
anyone, at anytime, anywhere. Experience Lab.
 Ubiquitous Communications- There should be a
A variety of technologies can be used to enable
mechanism through which these ambient agents
Ambient Intelligence environments such as-
should talk. For this purpose new protocols should
be designed and old ones should be developed.
 RFID
 Intelligent User Interface- Intelligent user
 ICT Implant
interface is aimed at giving an interface for the
 Sensors
ubiquitous environment. Intelligent interfaces
 Software agents
facilitate the interaction between ambient agents
 Affective computing.
and users and relates to the fields studying the
interactions between the human the beings known  Nanotechnology
as ordinary people and the ambient agents. When  Biometrics
we have to integrate the ambient systems into our
environments, we have to make them small
enough so that they become invisible.
 Network and Communication- We have sensors
tracking and positioning devices which tracks the
user’s moments and provide the information to the
ambient agents about the movements of humans.
Fig 3 ITs experiment generating bird view video of the intersection for projector mounted in a pendant like wearable device, sixth
driving safety by inter- vehicle communication.
sense sees what you see and visually augments any
surfaces or objects we are interacting with. It projects
information onto surfaces, walls and visual objects around
Practical Examples us, and let us interact with the projected information
through natural hand gestures, arm movements, or our
Augmented Mirror: It’s a mirror that reflects your interaction with the object itself. SixthSense attempts to
message- just like any mirror but it also displays some free information from its confines and seamlessly
information based on which family member is looking in integrating it with reality, and thus making the entire world
the mirror. Every family member can personalize the your computer.
information that gets presented when you look in the
mirror. So you can look up your calendar for today, your
spending habits for the months, the value of your stock
portfolio. The mirror is a half mirror and there is an LCD
screen behind it as well as camera to recognize the person.
It’s not interactive yet, meaning it’s not outfitted with a
touch screen. This technology might allow people to
gesture to change functions.

Fig 5 Sixthsense is made up of a camera that tracks the colored- marked

fingers, and a projector to display whatever relevant information the
system digs up.

Fig 6 Sixthsense providing Amazon’s rating for a book on the book’s

cover itself.

Fig 4 Ambient Intelligence Group’s Augmented Mirror can display news,

headlines and stock quotes based on who is standing in front of it.

SixthSense: Sixth sense is a wearable gestural interface that

augments the physical world around us with digital
information and lets us use natural hand gestures to interact
with that information. By using a camera and a tiny
 applied to other products. It is the only way to get the cost
down when you move into volume production.

Fig 8 AMI uses wireless multi sensor networks for making context rich
information available to applications and services.

Fig 7 Sixthsense can also pull up video from the internet.

In the field of Medicine: Philips researches describe how

optical techniques they applied onto study human skin.

The techniques provide instant information on skin aging

for example, or the development of skin cancer, which can
normally be obtained by biopsy.

The two techniques con focal laser scanning microscopy

and optical coherence tomography deliver complimentary
information on the skin structure. OCT produces cross Fig 9 A man wearing a bluetooth earset is crouched next to an internal
sectional images containing information from up to 1mm combustion engine.
under the skin surface. CLSM provides information about
the skin properties closer to the surface, has a higher Making Research Work
resolution and measures images parallel to the skin surface.
Five years ago researchers had coined the term Ambient
The key to AMI is packaging Intelligence to encapsulate vision of how people would
interact with technology in the year 2020.This is all very
Device packages will contain optical, mechanical and admirable, but an industrial laboratory like theirs needs to
biological functions as well as silicon chips. The problem, deliver practical results on a much shorter timescale.
however, is that Ambient Intelligence systems of the sort Nevertheless, they use the vision as a long-term guidance
needed to improve the lives of ordinary people in areas for their research programs. And, tangible results are
such as health care and life style need more than computing continuously emerging that make sense in their own right,
power. They need sensors to detect what is going on and bring the vision closer to realization at the same time.
around them, and actuators to deliver an appropriate Smart Companion is a good example. A humanlike robot
response. To make the technology so unobtrusive that it that acts as a butler to operate the digital devices in your
disappears into the fabric of our surroundings these sensors home. They have developed the necessary technology, but
and actuators will need to become part of ultra small instead of developing a commercial version, they will
system-in-package (SIP) solutions very different from license the technology to parties active in different markets
those of today in which the package still largely performs who will create their own varieties of the Smart
of traditional roles of electrical contact and sealing. The
important thing is that you either develop these highly
functional SIP solutions using established manufacturing
methods, or you develop generic solutions that can be
Companion. roles, relations, and entities. n the foreseen ubiquitous
interaction with information and telecommunication
systems the context of use may change continuously or
abruptly and the same systems or services may need to
behave differently in different contexts. Finally, it must be
considered that most of the interaction with currently
available systems is based on the performance of tasks
determined by the application used. In the intelligent
environment, the goals of the user are the starting point.
Fig 10 Communication Robot.
They must be inferred by the system and decomposed into
In this way researchers hope to create a much more diverse tasks that are adapted to the preferences of the individual.
landing place for the technology than they could ev At the Therefore, the environment must not only be filled with
same time, we like to see the breeding ground for Ambient intelligent objects (that is, computer-based systems), but
Intelligence expand as widely as possible. Because the must also be able to reason with regard to the goals of the
more people agree with them that the vision makes sense users. So will individuals embrace ambient intelligence?
and start working out their own ideas, the sooner it will An intelligent service will only be used if it is seen to be of
become a reality that will benefit all of us. benefit without effort and with no risk of compromising
privacy. This will require resources to be devoted to
educating people with disabilities about the possibilities
and limitations of various ambient intelligent systems.
However a service will need to be provided to help people
with disabilities identify which options will best meet their
individual needs, configure systems to be usable by that
individual, and provide training and support in the use of
these services.
Fig 11 Speech and Acoustics Laboratory has developed the speech-
oriented guidance system “kita-chan” working in a real environment.
Conclusion
Dark side of Ambient Intelligence
Ambient intelligence is world of smart dust with networked
However, integration within the AMI environment is sensors and actuators so small as to be virtually invisible,
complex, due to the interplay of its different levels, eg the where the clothes you wear, the paint on your walls, the
physical level with a multiplicity and heterogeneity of carpets on your floor, and the paper money in your pocket
intelligent objects and their need for a continuous and high- have a computer communications capability. It’s a 4G
speed connection, the level of identification and world and a world of convergence, where heterogeneous
consideration of the variety of contexts of use, and the level devices are able to communicate seamlessly across today’s
of elicitation of the diversity of user goals and help in their disparate networks, a world of machine learning and
fulfillment. At the lower level, all intelligent objects in the intelligent software, where computers monitor our
environment must be interconnected and able to cooperate activities, routines and behaviors to predict what we will do
in order to support the goals of the user. Moreover, the or want next. So, be prepared Ambient Intelligence is
environment must be reconfigurable in real time, to cater coming to you.
for the introduction or removal of components (for
example, objects that users entering the environment may References
have with them). At a higher level, the AmI environment
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