Ambient Intelligence or AmI refers to electronic environments that are responsive and sensitive to the presence of people. Ambient intelligence would allow devices to work in concert to support people in carrying out everyday activities in an intuitive way using information and intelligence that is hidden in the network connecting these devices.

The ambient intelligence paradigm builds upon ubiquitous computing, profiling, context awareness and human-centric computer interaction design. They are characterized as the following.

Many networks are integrated into the environment.

These devices can recognize you and your situational context.

They can be tailored to your needs

They can anticipate your desires without conscious mediation.

They can change in response to you.

Typical contexts of ambient intelligence work environment may include:

• Home.
• Work spaces.
• Public spaces.
• Hospital environments.

In late 1990s interest in user experience grew as the increasing number of digital products and services were difficult use or even understand. User Experience Design emerged as a result to create new technologies and media around the user’s personal experience. Ambient Intelligence concentrates on user-centered design. User is placed in the centre of the design activity and asked to give feedback through specific user evaluations and tests. This will help improve the design or sometimes, co-create the design with the designer or with other users.

The existence of certain unobtrusive, user-friendly technologies are required for the Ambient Intelligence to exist. These include:

• Miniaturization.
• Nanotechnology.
• Smart-devices.
• Human-centric computer interfaces.

These systems and devices need to operate through a seamless communication and computing infrastructure – which have the characteristics such as service-oriented architecture and interoperability. To implement ambient intelligence dynamic and massively distributed device networks, which are easy to control and program, these systems and devices must also be dependable and secure. This could be achieved through self-testing and self-repairing software and privacy ensuring technology.

Any immersive, personalized, context-aware and anticipatory characteristics brings up societal, political and cultural concerns about the loss of privacy. Several research groups and communities are investigating the socioeconomic, political and cultural aspects of ambient intelligence.

The ISTAG advisory group suggests that the following characteristics will permit the societal acceptance of ambient intelligence. Ambient intelligence should:

• Facilitate human contact.
• Be oriented towards community and cultural enhancement.
• Help to build knowledge and skills for work, better quality of work, citizenship and consumer choice.
• Inspire trust and confidence.
• Be consistent with long term sustainability—personal, societal and environmental—and with lifelong learning.
• Be made easy to live with and controllable by ordinary people.

As a result of maturing AmI research, the resulting technologies promise to revolutionize daily human life by making people’s surroundings flexible and adaptive.

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