Easing the smart home: a rule-based language and multi-agent structure for end user development in intelligent environments

Tesis doctoral inédita. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Escuela Politécnica Superior, septiembre de 200

Towards a ubiquitous end-user programming system for smart spaces

This article presents a rule–based agent mechanism as the kernel of a ubiquitous end–user, UI–independent programming system. The underlying goal of our work is to allow end–users to control and program their environments in a uniform, application–independent way. The heterogeneity of environments, users and programming skills, as well as the coexistence of different users and domains of automation in the same environment are some of the main challenges analyzed. For doing so, we present our system and describe some of the real–environments, user studies and experiences we have had in the development process.This work has been partially funded by the following projects: HADA (Ministerio de Ciencia y Educación de España, TIN2007-64718), Vesta (Ministerio de Industria, Turismo y Comercio de España, TSI-020100-2009-828) y eMadrid (Comunidad de Madrid, S2009/TIC-1650)

Adaptive activities for inclusive learning using multitouch tabletops: An approach

Proceedings of the International Workshop on Personalization Approaches in Learning Environments. Girona, Spain, July 15, 2011.Also published online by CEUR Workshop Proceedings (CEUR-WS.org, ISSN 1613-0073)People with cognitive disabilities have some difficulties with memory, literacy skills, attention and problem solving. Computers and specifically, adaptation mechanisms can be used to improve their learning. The adaptation allows fitting the learning process to each user. This paper presents a proposal to adapt learning activities while people are interacting using multitouch tabletops. The adaptation mechanism takes into account structural aspects, content adaptation and the interaction provided.This work has been funded by the Spanish Government (ASIES Project - Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación de España, TIN2010-17344). The D2-Player has been funded by Fundación Sindrome de Down Madrid

Harnessing the Interaction continuum for subtle assisted living

This article belongs to the Special Issue Select papers from UCAmI 2011 - the 5th International Symposium on Ubiquitous Computing and Ambient Intelligence (UCAmI'11)People interact with each other in many levels of attention, intention and meaning. This Interaction Continuum is used daily to deal with different contexts, adapting the interaction to communication needs and available resources. Nevertheless, computer-supported interaction has mainly focused on the most direct, explicit and intrusive types of human to human Interaction such as phone calls, emails, or video conferences. This paper presents the results of exploring and exploiting the potentials of undemanding interaction mechanisms, paying special attention to subtle communication and background interaction. As we argue the benefits of this type of interaction for people with special needs, we present a theoretical framework to define it and propose a proof of concept based on Augmented Objects and a color codification mechanism. Finally, we evaluate and analyze the strengths and limitations of such approach with people with cognitive disabilities.This work has been partially funded by the following projects: ASIES (Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación de España, TIN2010-17344), VESTA (Ministerio de Industria, Turismo y Comercio de España, TSI-020100-2009-828) and eMadrid (Comunidad de Madrid, S2009/TIC-1650). We also want to thank the PRODIS foundation, Pablo Llinás, Gemma de Castro and especially Pedro Paredes for their support

Adaptive interfaces for people with special needs

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-02481-8_117Proceedings of 10th International Work-Conference on Artificial Neural Networks, IWANN 2009 Workshops, Salamanca, Spain, June 10-12, 2009This paper covers those aspects of modern interfaces which expand and enhance the way in which people interact with computers, like multi-touch table systems, presence-detection led displays and interactive virtualized real-life environments. It elaborates on how disabled or conditioned people take great advantage of natural interaction as interfaces adapt to their needs; interfaces which can be focused towards memory, cognitive or physical deficiencies. Applications size-up to serve specific users with customized tools and options, and are aware while taking into account the state and situation of the individual.This work has been partly funded by HADA project number TIN2007 – 64718

A mechanism for solving conflicts in ambient intelligent environments

Ambient Intelligence scenarios describe situations in which multitude of devices and agents live together. In this kind of scenarios is frequent to see the appearance of conflicts when modifying the state of a device as for example a lamp. Those problems are not as much of sharing of resources as of conflict of orders coming from different agents. This coexistence must deal also with the desire of privacy of the different users over their personal information such as where they are, what their preferences are or to whom this information should be available. When facing incompatible orders over the state of a device it turns necessary to make a decision. In this paper we propose a centralised mechanism based on prioritized FIFO queues to decide the order in which the control of a device is granted. The priority of the commands is calculated following a policy that considers issues such as the commander's role, command's type, context's state and commander-context and commander-resource relations. Finally we propose a set of particular policies for those resources that do not adjust to the general policy. In addition we present a model pretending to integrate privacy through limiting and protecting contextual information

GHIA (Grupo de Herramientas Interactivas Avanzadas)

Es este documento se resumen las principales líneas actuales de investigación del grupo GHIA en lo que a informática educativa se refiere, así como su contexto y proyectos de futuro.This document summarizes the main research areas of GHIA regarding computer based learning, as well as its context and future work.En el momento actual, agradecemos su apoyo a los proyectos ASIES (TIN2010-17344) y Go-Lite (TIN2011-24139), financiados por el Ministerio de Educación, y al proyecto e-Madrid (S2009/TIC-1650), financiado por la Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid

Easing the smart home: Semi-automatic adaptation in perceptive environments

This paper analyses the requirements of automation and adaptation in the so called perceptive environments. These environments are places with the ability of perceiving the context through sensors and other mechanisms. Focusing on personal/home environments, we present a first approach and prototype to semi-automatic adaptation of Perceptive Environments through a system of rule-based, configurable and modular agents, which are able to explain their behaviors and to adapt to the changing habits of the users. This prototype has been implemented over a real environment: a living room equipped with ambient intelligence capabilities. The core of the system relies on a set of modular agents equipped with rules. Those rules are composed of triggers, conditions and actions that enable them to express desired behaviors of the environment as well as to infer high-level context from low level context. One of the main objectives of the system is to leverage the control of the user over his/her own environment, making it easy to create powerful and personal behaviors without expert assistance. In this sense this work follows Greenberg s thought of making "simple ideas simple to be done" [Greenberg 07].This work has been partially funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Education, (project TIN2004-03140) and by U.A.M-Grupo Santander (project Itech Calli), and is part of the UAM-SOLUZIONA AmI Laboratory research program. Special thanks to Eran Eden and Manuel Freire for their recommendations