Towards Natural Interaction with Smart Homes

Abstract

This paper proposes a novel conceptual architecture for smart homes as well as a new approach to home-inhabitant interaction. HOME is an intelligent agent based on a Belief-Desire-Intention (BDI) model, extended with the concept of values that represent abstract and permanent needs, such as health, comfort or security, which drive its decision making activity. Values, beliefs, desires and intentions are also the basic conceptual entities of inhabitant-system dialogue: the ultimate goal of HOME is to satisfy inhabitant needs and preferences, by taking into account knowledge about the environment and available devices, such as sensors and actuators. The result is a peer-to-peer interaction, where (the best) decisions emerge from a dialectic behavior.