An approach for the simulation of flexible ubiquitous environments

Abstract

Intelligent environments, as houses and cities, will only reach their main objective when addressing the users' different needs. However, consider the several different human factors, and also the ubiquitous technologies specificities, in the design process is still a challenge. It is known that many researchers use simulation techniques to smooth the process of ubiquitous systems design and evaluation. However, many of these simulation techniques have failed to cover the different users' needs and support the development of flexible user interfaces. In order to overcome this limitation, this paper proposes an approach to simulate flexible ubiquitous environments that consider the diversity of users. This new approach was developed from the adaptation of the Wizard of Oz technique. This paper also describes the application of this approach in a simulation of a smart kitchen.