Context-aware search using cooperative agents in a smart environment

In this paper we present the design of a decentralized vision-based object search system that can be used for elder care in a smart environment. In our approach, each autonomous search agent maintains separate estimates of the probability density function (PDF) of the object location and makes independent decisions about its search process. Asynchronous cooperative search is achieved by transmitting perceptual information among the agents. Our work also investigates how context such as the detection history and density of activity by people influence the estimation of the prior PDF of the target and the use of this information to improve the search efficiency. Our experimental results demonstrate that the proposed cooperative search strategy is efficient and the methods we use to incorporate contextual information into the target´s posterior PDF can improve the efficiency further.