PEIS ecologies: ambient intelligence meets autonomous robotics

Abstract

A common vision in the field of autonomous robotics is to create a skilled robot companion that is able to live in our homes and perform physical tasks to help us in our everyday life. Another vision, coming from the field of ambient intelligence, is to create a network of intelligent home devices that provide us with information, communication, and entertainment. We propose to combine these two visions into the new concept of an ecology of networked Physically Embedded Intelligent Systems (PEIS). In this paper, we define this concept, and illustrate it by describing an experimental system that involves real robotic devices.