CONIX Publication

“Why are ‘smart’ devices so dumb?”

Authors: Chris Harrison

Abstract:

Truly smart and responsive environments rely on the ability to detect physical events and social context, such as appliance use and human activities. Currently, to sense these types of events, one must either upgrade to “smart” appliances or attach aftermarket sensors to existing objects and infrastructure. These approaches are expensive, intrusive and inflexible. Furthermore, even "smart" appliances are often very dumb – a smart speaker sitting on a kitchen countertop cannot figure out if it is in a kitchen, let alone know the user is preparing dinner. In my talk, I will review key breakthroughs my group has made over the past five years to bring the promise of smart environments much closer to reality.

Release Date: 10/06/2021
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