Creating an ambient-intelligence environment using embedded agents

The Essex intelligent dormitory, iDorm, uses embedded agents to create an ambient-intelligence environment. In a five-and-a-half-day experiment, a user occupied the iDorm, testing its ability to learn user behavior and adapt to user needs. The embedded agent discreetly controls the iDorm according to user preferences. Our work focuses on developing learning and adaptation techniques for embedded agents. We seek to provide online, lifelong, personalized learning of anticipatory adaptive control to realize the ambient-intelligence vision in ubiquitous-computing environments. We developed the Essex intelligent dormitory, or iDorm, as a test bed for this work and an exemplar of this approach.