2010 Sixth International Conference on Intelligent Environments, 2010
In this short conceptual paper we explore the need for demonstrations of intelligent environments... more In this short conceptual paper we explore the need for demonstrations of intelligent environments research that can convey what we as researchers think to potential users that have limited exposure to such ideas. This is especially important where physical and virtual worlds meet in the smart home context. We present several exemplars that are intended to promote user understanding through the use of mixed reality technologies.
2010 Sixth International Conference on Intelligent Environments, 2010
Autonomy of embedded agents in intelligent environments is highly debated topic; while some belie... more Autonomy of embedded agents in intelligent environments is highly debated topic; while some believe that agents should have very minimal autonomy and should only act as directly instructed by the user, others consider providing agents with autonomy to be an essential aspect to building intelligent environments. This paper reports on the current progress of our project to enable human users and agents to collaborate in managing intelligent environments as a team. We seek to develop an adjustable-autonomy agent in an effort to explore user acceptance of pervasive computing and the use of autonomous agents therein, as wells as aiming to improve the robustness and reliability of future intelligent environment systems. We present our Adjustable-autonomy Behaviour-Based Agent (ABBA) architecture model and discuss our initial trials with our prototype system, built on a smart home emulator, which demonstrate the plausibility of employing adjustableautonomy in full-scale intelligent environments and pervasive computing systems.
Proceedings of the 4th International ICST Conference on Pervasive Computing Technologies for Healthcare, 2010
Pervasive intelligent environments, such as digital homes, offer huge potentials for eHealth serv... more Pervasive intelligent environments, such as digital homes, offer huge potentials for eHealth services. However, there is a question as to how best to manage (i.e. configure and program) these systems. The majority of solutions to-date rely exclusively on either end users or autonomous agents to manage the environment, which may not be suitable for all users and in certain situations, especially in eHealth applications where uses may have very specific requirements that can change considerably over time. In this work-in-progress paper we argue that human-agent teamwork is vital for the adoption of future pervasive computing systems into our everyday lives; we discuss these issues, exposing the problem of exclusive management and we explore a solution, presenting our novel architecture for an adjustable autonomy agent that enables human-agent based teamwork. This work contributes to the PAL project: a collaborative research effort between University of Essex, BT, University of Cambridge and Ericsson.
There are many arguments for and against the use of autonomousagents in intelligent environments.... more There are many arguments for and against the use of autonomousagents in intelligent environments. Some researchers maintain that it is of utmost importance to give complete control to users, and hence greatly restrict autonomy of agents; whereas, others believe that is it preferable to increase user convenience by allowing agents to operate autonomously on the user’s behalf. While both of these approaches have their distinct merits, they are not suitable for all users. As people’s opinions and concerns regarding agent autonomy are highly individual, depending on a wide range of factors and often changing over time, a much more dynamic approach to agent autonomy is needed.
Abstract—In intelligent environment research, many believe that we should focus on developing end... more Abstract—In intelligent environment research, many believe that we should focus on developing end-user driven systems, seeking to empower the user; whereas, many others maintain that intelligent environments should be autonomous-agent driven, minimising user cognitive loading. We however, follow the premise that users of intelligent environments should be given a choice of how much autonomy they would like to keep and how much they wish to delegate to intelligent agents. This paper gives a brief overview of previous ...
In intelligent environment research, many believe that we should focus on developing end-user dri... more In intelligent environment research, many believe that we should focus on developing end-user driven systems, seeking to empower the user; whereas, many others maintain that intelligent environments should be autonomous-agent driven, minimising user cognitive loading. We however, follow the premise that users of intelligent environments should be given a choice of how much autonomy they would like to keep and how much they wish to delegate to intelligent agents. This paper gives a brief overview of previous studies of user needs and concerns in intelligent environments and reports on a recent online survey that was conducted to assess people’s opinions of the use of autonomy in intelligent environments. We aim to raise awareness of the issues with using static (and extreme) levels of autonomy amongst researchers of intelligent environments and pervasive computing systems.
2013 9th International Conference on Intelligent Environments, 2013
One form of complexity in intelligent environments arises from their heterogeneous nature. The gr... more One form of complexity in intelligent environments arises from their heterogeneous nature. The growing variety of environments and countless stereotypes of users operating Intelligent Environments will, theoretically, increase the complexity and resources needed to utilise them. However we argue that utilizing Crowd Intelligence techniques in Intelligent Environments offer several advantages for dealing with these complexities. A novel architecture called a Crowd Based Heterogeneous Ambient Environment Framework (CHAMBER) is introduced, which proposes the use of hierarchical clustering to discover similarities between the infrastructures of individual Intelligent Environments, which are then offered for use by other users wishing to construct their own intelligent environments.
As Intelligent Environments research continues in its various guises, there is an increase in the... more As Intelligent Environments research continues in its various guises, there is an increase in the scale at which investigation is being conducted. Projects are looking beyond single-room and apartment sized living-labs that have provided us with initial testbeds for early research and are envisioning grander designs on the scale of entire buildings, campus or towns. But now we must ask if the knowledge we have gained previously can scale upwards, or are new methods and models required to break free from the confines of controlled labs and into realworld deployments where multi-user is the norm not the exception. In the discourse of this paper, we describe what Large-Scale Intelligent Environments (LSIEs) are and identify some of the challenges that relate to realizing them. We highlight the importance of security, standards and infrastructure so that human users can roam confidently from place-to-place whilst enjoying a seamless continuity of experience.
There is a long-standing debate over the role that intelligent agents should play and how much au... more There is a long-standing debate over the role that intelligent agents should play and how much autonomy they should be given in user-centric systems such as intelligent environments and other pervasive computing technologies. A recent online survey has been conducted to assess people's opinions of the use of autonomy in intelligent environments. In order to conduct this survey, an animated video was created to explain the necessary concepts of intelligent environments to the survey participants. This short paper gives an overview of the online survey and discusses the explanation video.
There are many arguments for and against the use of autonomousagents in intelligent environments.... more There are many arguments for and against the use of autonomousagents in intelligent environments. Some researchers maintain that it is of utmost importance to give complete control to users, and hence greatly restrict autonomy of agents; whereas, others believe that is it preferable to increase user convenience by allowing agents to operate autonomously on the user's behalf. While both of these approaches have their distinct merits, they are not suitable for all users. As people's opinions and concerns regarding agent autonomy are highly individual, depending on a wide range of factors and often changing over time, a much more dynamic approach to agent autonomy is needed.
There are many arguments for and against the use of autonomous-agents in intelligent environments... more There are many arguments for and against the use of autonomous-agents in intelligent environments. Some researchers maintain that it is of utmost importance to give complete control to users, and hence greatly restrict autonomy of agents; whereas, others believe that is it preferable to increase user convenience by allowing agents to operate autonomously on the user's behalf. While both of these approaches have their distinct merits, they are not suitable for all users. As people's opinions and concerns regarding agent autonomy are highly individual, depending on a wide range of factors and often changing over time, a much more dynamic approach to agent autonomy is needed. This work explores how it is possible to equip intelligent environments with an adjustable autonomy mechanism, which allows an individual user to increase or decrease agent autonomy in order to find their own comfortable sweet-spot between maintaining/relinquishing control and gaining/losing convenience. This paper presents the Adjustable Autonomy Intelligent Environment (AAIE) model, discusses how adjustable autonomy can be achieved in intelligent environments, and discusses the major findings from a recent online survey and user study, which highlight the major factors and concerns of users that determine their personal preferences towards different levels of autonomy.
There are many arguments for and against the use of autonomous-agents in ambient intelligence and... more There are many arguments for and against the use of autonomous-agents in ambient intelligence and intelligent environments. Some researchers maintain that it is vital to restrict autonomy of agents so that users have complete control over the system; whereas, many others maintain that there is a greater benefit to be gained by employing autonomous-agents to take some of the work load off the user and increase user convenience. Both of these approaches have their distinct advantages but they are not suitable for all since people's opinions and concerns regarding autonomy are highly individual and can differ greatly from person to person. This work explores how it is possible to make intelligent environments more dynamic and personalisable by equipping them with adjustable autonomy, which allows the user to increase or decrease agent autonomy in order to find a comfortable sweet-spot between relinquishing/maintaining control and gaining/losing convenience. This chapter discusses how adjustable autonomy can be achieved in intelligent environments, reports on a recent online survey conducted to gauge people's opinions of different levels of in intelligent environments, and discusses a user study for which an experimental adjustable autonomy enabled intelligent environment was developed. This work aims to raise awareness of the issues with using static (and extreme) levels of autonomy amongst researchers of intelligent environments and ambient intelligent environments.
In intelligent environment research, many believe that we should focus on developing end-user dri... more In intelligent environment research, many believe that we should focus on developing end-user driven systems, seeking to empower the user; whereas, many others maintain that intelligent environments should be autonomous-agent driven, minimising user cognitive loading. We however, follow the premise that users of intelligent environments should be given a choice of how much autonomy they would like to keep and how much they wish to delegate to intelligent agents. This paper gives a brief overview of previous studies of user needs and concerns in intelligent environments and reports on a recent online survey that was conducted to assess people's opinions of the use of autonomy in intelligent environments. We aim to raise awareness of the issues with using static (and extreme) levels of autonomy amongst researchers of intelligent environments and pervasive computing systems.
Autonomy of embedded agents in intelligent environments is highly debated topic; while some belie... more Autonomy of embedded agents in intelligent environments is highly debated topic; while some believe that agents should have very minimal autonomy and should only act as directly instructed by the user, others consider providing agents with autonomy to be an essential aspect to building intelligent environments. This paper reports on the current progress of our project to enable human users and agents to collaborate in managing intelligent environments as a team. We seek to develop an adjustable-autonomy agent in an effort to explore user acceptance of pervasive computing and the use of autonomous agents therein, as wells as aiming to improve the robustness and reliability of future intelligent environment systems. We present our Adjustable-autonomy Behaviour-Based Agent (ABBA) architecture model and discuss our initial trials with our prototype system, built on a smart home emulator, which demonstrate the plausibility of employing adjustable autonomy in full-scale intelligent environments and pervasive computing systems.
Pervasive intelligent environments, such as digital homes, offer huge potentials for eHealth serv... more Pervasive intelligent environments, such as digital homes, offer huge potentials for eHealth services. However, there is a question as to how best to manage (i.e. configure and program) these systems. The majority of solutions to-date rely exclusively on either end users or autonomous agents to manage the environment, which may not be suitable for all users and in certain situations, especially in eHealth applications where uses may have very specific requirements that can change considerably over time. In this work-in-progress paper we argue that human-agent teamwork is vital for the adoption of future pervasive computing systems into our everyday lives; we discuss these issues, exposing the problem of exclusive management and we explore a solution, presenting our novel architecture for an adjustable autonomy agent that enables human-agent based teamwork. This work contributes to the PAL project: a collaborative research effort between University of Essex, BT, University of Cambridge and Ericsson.
Various approaches to the configuration and control of intelligent environments have been researc... more Various approaches to the configuration and control of intelligent environments have been researched in the past. The majority of these however, make use of either exclusively autonomous or exclusively end-user driven techniques which, in certain situations, may be an issue. A number of users may be reluctant to allow an autonomous system to monitor and interpret every action they take while, on the other hand, some users may be unable or unwilling to program and configure such a complex (end-user driven) system alone. This work-inprogress paper outlines our preliminary work aimed at exploring a solution to this issue by investigating the possibility of creating a hybrid autonomous-agent/enduser driven system that enables the user to set the level of autonomy for any given part of an intelligent environment. The principle contributions of this paper are to expose the issues regarding intelligent environment management systems, to give a comprehensive review of related work on adjustable autonomy and to present a conceptual model and an autonomy metric that can be used as a foundation of future research into developing hybrid autonomous-agent/end-user driven systems. This work forms part of an ongoing three year research project, funded by BT, that seeks to understand and address user concerns with the aim of equipping intelligent environments with better management systems and, furthermore, making intelligent environments more commercially deployable. Given the ongoing nature of this work, we propose to report any significant progress of this research at subsequent IE conferences until this work is complete.
In this short conceptual paper we explore the need for demonstrations of intelligent environments... more In this short conceptual paper we explore the need for demonstrations of intelligent environments research that can convey what we as researchers think to potential users that have limited exposure to such ideas. This is especially important where physical and virtual worlds meet in the smart home context. We present several exemplars that are intended to promote user understanding through the use of mixed reality technologies.
2010 Sixth International Conference on Intelligent Environments, 2010
In this short conceptual paper we explore the need for demonstrations of intelligent environments... more In this short conceptual paper we explore the need for demonstrations of intelligent environments research that can convey what we as researchers think to potential users that have limited exposure to such ideas. This is especially important where physical and virtual worlds meet in the smart home context. We present several exemplars that are intended to promote user understanding through the use of mixed reality technologies.
2010 Sixth International Conference on Intelligent Environments, 2010
Autonomy of embedded agents in intelligent environments is highly debated topic; while some belie... more Autonomy of embedded agents in intelligent environments is highly debated topic; while some believe that agents should have very minimal autonomy and should only act as directly instructed by the user, others consider providing agents with autonomy to be an essential aspect to building intelligent environments. This paper reports on the current progress of our project to enable human users and agents to collaborate in managing intelligent environments as a team. We seek to develop an adjustable-autonomy agent in an effort to explore user acceptance of pervasive computing and the use of autonomous agents therein, as wells as aiming to improve the robustness and reliability of future intelligent environment systems. We present our Adjustable-autonomy Behaviour-Based Agent (ABBA) architecture model and discuss our initial trials with our prototype system, built on a smart home emulator, which demonstrate the plausibility of employing adjustableautonomy in full-scale intelligent environments and pervasive computing systems.
Proceedings of the 4th International ICST Conference on Pervasive Computing Technologies for Healthcare, 2010
Pervasive intelligent environments, such as digital homes, offer huge potentials for eHealth serv... more Pervasive intelligent environments, such as digital homes, offer huge potentials for eHealth services. However, there is a question as to how best to manage (i.e. configure and program) these systems. The majority of solutions to-date rely exclusively on either end users or autonomous agents to manage the environment, which may not be suitable for all users and in certain situations, especially in eHealth applications where uses may have very specific requirements that can change considerably over time. In this work-in-progress paper we argue that human-agent teamwork is vital for the adoption of future pervasive computing systems into our everyday lives; we discuss these issues, exposing the problem of exclusive management and we explore a solution, presenting our novel architecture for an adjustable autonomy agent that enables human-agent based teamwork. This work contributes to the PAL project: a collaborative research effort between University of Essex, BT, University of Cambridge and Ericsson.
There are many arguments for and against the use of autonomousagents in intelligent environments.... more There are many arguments for and against the use of autonomousagents in intelligent environments. Some researchers maintain that it is of utmost importance to give complete control to users, and hence greatly restrict autonomy of agents; whereas, others believe that is it preferable to increase user convenience by allowing agents to operate autonomously on the user’s behalf. While both of these approaches have their distinct merits, they are not suitable for all users. As people’s opinions and concerns regarding agent autonomy are highly individual, depending on a wide range of factors and often changing over time, a much more dynamic approach to agent autonomy is needed.
Abstract—In intelligent environment research, many believe that we should focus on developing end... more Abstract—In intelligent environment research, many believe that we should focus on developing end-user driven systems, seeking to empower the user; whereas, many others maintain that intelligent environments should be autonomous-agent driven, minimising user cognitive loading. We however, follow the premise that users of intelligent environments should be given a choice of how much autonomy they would like to keep and how much they wish to delegate to intelligent agents. This paper gives a brief overview of previous ...
In intelligent environment research, many believe that we should focus on developing end-user dri... more In intelligent environment research, many believe that we should focus on developing end-user driven systems, seeking to empower the user; whereas, many others maintain that intelligent environments should be autonomous-agent driven, minimising user cognitive loading. We however, follow the premise that users of intelligent environments should be given a choice of how much autonomy they would like to keep and how much they wish to delegate to intelligent agents. This paper gives a brief overview of previous studies of user needs and concerns in intelligent environments and reports on a recent online survey that was conducted to assess people’s opinions of the use of autonomy in intelligent environments. We aim to raise awareness of the issues with using static (and extreme) levels of autonomy amongst researchers of intelligent environments and pervasive computing systems.
2013 9th International Conference on Intelligent Environments, 2013
One form of complexity in intelligent environments arises from their heterogeneous nature. The gr... more One form of complexity in intelligent environments arises from their heterogeneous nature. The growing variety of environments and countless stereotypes of users operating Intelligent Environments will, theoretically, increase the complexity and resources needed to utilise them. However we argue that utilizing Crowd Intelligence techniques in Intelligent Environments offer several advantages for dealing with these complexities. A novel architecture called a Crowd Based Heterogeneous Ambient Environment Framework (CHAMBER) is introduced, which proposes the use of hierarchical clustering to discover similarities between the infrastructures of individual Intelligent Environments, which are then offered for use by other users wishing to construct their own intelligent environments.
As Intelligent Environments research continues in its various guises, there is an increase in the... more As Intelligent Environments research continues in its various guises, there is an increase in the scale at which investigation is being conducted. Projects are looking beyond single-room and apartment sized living-labs that have provided us with initial testbeds for early research and are envisioning grander designs on the scale of entire buildings, campus or towns. But now we must ask if the knowledge we have gained previously can scale upwards, or are new methods and models required to break free from the confines of controlled labs and into realworld deployments where multi-user is the norm not the exception. In the discourse of this paper, we describe what Large-Scale Intelligent Environments (LSIEs) are and identify some of the challenges that relate to realizing them. We highlight the importance of security, standards and infrastructure so that human users can roam confidently from place-to-place whilst enjoying a seamless continuity of experience.
There is a long-standing debate over the role that intelligent agents should play and how much au... more There is a long-standing debate over the role that intelligent agents should play and how much autonomy they should be given in user-centric systems such as intelligent environments and other pervasive computing technologies. A recent online survey has been conducted to assess people's opinions of the use of autonomy in intelligent environments. In order to conduct this survey, an animated video was created to explain the necessary concepts of intelligent environments to the survey participants. This short paper gives an overview of the online survey and discusses the explanation video.
There are many arguments for and against the use of autonomousagents in intelligent environments.... more There are many arguments for and against the use of autonomousagents in intelligent environments. Some researchers maintain that it is of utmost importance to give complete control to users, and hence greatly restrict autonomy of agents; whereas, others believe that is it preferable to increase user convenience by allowing agents to operate autonomously on the user's behalf. While both of these approaches have their distinct merits, they are not suitable for all users. As people's opinions and concerns regarding agent autonomy are highly individual, depending on a wide range of factors and often changing over time, a much more dynamic approach to agent autonomy is needed.
There are many arguments for and against the use of autonomous-agents in intelligent environments... more There are many arguments for and against the use of autonomous-agents in intelligent environments. Some researchers maintain that it is of utmost importance to give complete control to users, and hence greatly restrict autonomy of agents; whereas, others believe that is it preferable to increase user convenience by allowing agents to operate autonomously on the user's behalf. While both of these approaches have their distinct merits, they are not suitable for all users. As people's opinions and concerns regarding agent autonomy are highly individual, depending on a wide range of factors and often changing over time, a much more dynamic approach to agent autonomy is needed. This work explores how it is possible to equip intelligent environments with an adjustable autonomy mechanism, which allows an individual user to increase or decrease agent autonomy in order to find their own comfortable sweet-spot between maintaining/relinquishing control and gaining/losing convenience. This paper presents the Adjustable Autonomy Intelligent Environment (AAIE) model, discusses how adjustable autonomy can be achieved in intelligent environments, and discusses the major findings from a recent online survey and user study, which highlight the major factors and concerns of users that determine their personal preferences towards different levels of autonomy.
There are many arguments for and against the use of autonomous-agents in ambient intelligence and... more There are many arguments for and against the use of autonomous-agents in ambient intelligence and intelligent environments. Some researchers maintain that it is vital to restrict autonomy of agents so that users have complete control over the system; whereas, many others maintain that there is a greater benefit to be gained by employing autonomous-agents to take some of the work load off the user and increase user convenience. Both of these approaches have their distinct advantages but they are not suitable for all since people's opinions and concerns regarding autonomy are highly individual and can differ greatly from person to person. This work explores how it is possible to make intelligent environments more dynamic and personalisable by equipping them with adjustable autonomy, which allows the user to increase or decrease agent autonomy in order to find a comfortable sweet-spot between relinquishing/maintaining control and gaining/losing convenience. This chapter discusses how adjustable autonomy can be achieved in intelligent environments, reports on a recent online survey conducted to gauge people's opinions of different levels of in intelligent environments, and discusses a user study for which an experimental adjustable autonomy enabled intelligent environment was developed. This work aims to raise awareness of the issues with using static (and extreme) levels of autonomy amongst researchers of intelligent environments and ambient intelligent environments.
In intelligent environment research, many believe that we should focus on developing end-user dri... more In intelligent environment research, many believe that we should focus on developing end-user driven systems, seeking to empower the user; whereas, many others maintain that intelligent environments should be autonomous-agent driven, minimising user cognitive loading. We however, follow the premise that users of intelligent environments should be given a choice of how much autonomy they would like to keep and how much they wish to delegate to intelligent agents. This paper gives a brief overview of previous studies of user needs and concerns in intelligent environments and reports on a recent online survey that was conducted to assess people's opinions of the use of autonomy in intelligent environments. We aim to raise awareness of the issues with using static (and extreme) levels of autonomy amongst researchers of intelligent environments and pervasive computing systems.
Autonomy of embedded agents in intelligent environments is highly debated topic; while some belie... more Autonomy of embedded agents in intelligent environments is highly debated topic; while some believe that agents should have very minimal autonomy and should only act as directly instructed by the user, others consider providing agents with autonomy to be an essential aspect to building intelligent environments. This paper reports on the current progress of our project to enable human users and agents to collaborate in managing intelligent environments as a team. We seek to develop an adjustable-autonomy agent in an effort to explore user acceptance of pervasive computing and the use of autonomous agents therein, as wells as aiming to improve the robustness and reliability of future intelligent environment systems. We present our Adjustable-autonomy Behaviour-Based Agent (ABBA) architecture model and discuss our initial trials with our prototype system, built on a smart home emulator, which demonstrate the plausibility of employing adjustable autonomy in full-scale intelligent environments and pervasive computing systems.
Pervasive intelligent environments, such as digital homes, offer huge potentials for eHealth serv... more Pervasive intelligent environments, such as digital homes, offer huge potentials for eHealth services. However, there is a question as to how best to manage (i.e. configure and program) these systems. The majority of solutions to-date rely exclusively on either end users or autonomous agents to manage the environment, which may not be suitable for all users and in certain situations, especially in eHealth applications where uses may have very specific requirements that can change considerably over time. In this work-in-progress paper we argue that human-agent teamwork is vital for the adoption of future pervasive computing systems into our everyday lives; we discuss these issues, exposing the problem of exclusive management and we explore a solution, presenting our novel architecture for an adjustable autonomy agent that enables human-agent based teamwork. This work contributes to the PAL project: a collaborative research effort between University of Essex, BT, University of Cambridge and Ericsson.
Various approaches to the configuration and control of intelligent environments have been researc... more Various approaches to the configuration and control of intelligent environments have been researched in the past. The majority of these however, make use of either exclusively autonomous or exclusively end-user driven techniques which, in certain situations, may be an issue. A number of users may be reluctant to allow an autonomous system to monitor and interpret every action they take while, on the other hand, some users may be unable or unwilling to program and configure such a complex (end-user driven) system alone. This work-inprogress paper outlines our preliminary work aimed at exploring a solution to this issue by investigating the possibility of creating a hybrid autonomous-agent/enduser driven system that enables the user to set the level of autonomy for any given part of an intelligent environment. The principle contributions of this paper are to expose the issues regarding intelligent environment management systems, to give a comprehensive review of related work on adjustable autonomy and to present a conceptual model and an autonomy metric that can be used as a foundation of future research into developing hybrid autonomous-agent/end-user driven systems. This work forms part of an ongoing three year research project, funded by BT, that seeks to understand and address user concerns with the aim of equipping intelligent environments with better management systems and, furthermore, making intelligent environments more commercially deployable. Given the ongoing nature of this work, we propose to report any significant progress of this research at subsequent IE conferences until this work is complete.
In this short conceptual paper we explore the need for demonstrations of intelligent environments... more In this short conceptual paper we explore the need for demonstrations of intelligent environments research that can convey what we as researchers think to potential users that have limited exposure to such ideas. This is especially important where physical and virtual worlds meet in the smart home context. We present several exemplars that are intended to promote user understanding through the use of mixed reality technologies.
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