What is an Ambient System?

We have repeatedly talked about ambient systems. I’d reiterate here what we mean by the ambient system - An ambient system is a system that uses context-aware sensing and computation to provide unobtrusive assistance to people in their environments.

Ambient computing systems are designed to perform a task without the need for direct human input or interaction. They use sensors to gather information about their environment and trigger processes that complete the task autonomously. The goal is for these systems to operate in the background, freeing people from the need to manually complete the task themselves.

A typical ambient intelligent system is identified by the following characteristics:  

• Context-Aware: It exploits contextual and situational information.
• Personalized: It is personalized and tailored to the needs of each individual.
• Anticipatory: It can anticipate the needs of an individual without the conscious mediation of the individual.
• Adaptive: It adapts to the changing needs of individuals.
• Ubiquity: It is embedded and is integrated into our everyday environments.
• Transparency: It recedes into the background of our daily life in an unobtrusive way.

Stakeholders in ambient computing?

We will now try to understand different stakeholders/components in an ambient computing system.  

1. Humans

Humans are the essential component of an ambient system, providing both the context and the goals that the system aims to fulfill. The system takes cues from human activity and uses this information to trigger actions that support humans' needs.

It is very important to note that we have mentioned humans here, unlike the industrial jargon like user. In an ideal ambient system, humans do not actively use the system, but rather the system works on its own to support and augment human needs. The relationship between humans and these systems is not transactional, but rather symbiotic.  

2a. Sensors

Perception is the foundation of any ambient system, and sensors provide the means for the system to perceive the environment. The sensors feed information to the system, which then interprets this information and determines the appropriate actions.

The design of an ambient system's sensor suite is based on the system's specific requirements and the context in which it operates. In general, an ambient system will need a few key sensors, but additional sensors may be required for specialized applications. The goal is to provide the system with a rich understanding of its environment that is comparable to the perception capabilities of a human.

The most common types of sensors include visual, audio, and tactile sensors. But there are also more advanced sensors that can detect things like chemicals, biological markers, time, and even geospatial information.

For a deeper understanding of sensing and perception, please go through this page.

2b. Interfaces/Output Devices

Interfaces are a crucial component of any system, as they allow for two-way communication between humans and the system. They provide feedback and output information that allow humans to interact with and understand the system. Without interfaces, it would be difficult for humans to use and benefit from the system.

In ambient systems, interfaces play a unique role compared to traditional interfaces. Ambient interfaces need to be more subtle and unobtrusive, so that they fit seamlessly into the background of our environment. They should also interact with our peripheral attention, rather than our direct focus, in order to provide feedback and receive input without being disruptive.

3. Technology Powerhouse

The technology powerhouse/brain of an ambient system is the processing unit, which receives and analyzes inputs from sensors and interfaces, and provides outputs to those same components. In this way, the technology 'brain' is the key component that turns inputs into meaningful instructions and actions. For the sake of this note, we can assume technology powerhouse to be any and every technology processing unit.

Two advantages of digital computation over human processing are that it has nearly infinite storage capacity and much faster computation speed.

The technical system includes sub-areas such as artificial intelligence, reasoning, activity recognition, decision-making, and spatio-temporal logic, each of which perform specialized tasks. Together, these sub-areas enable digital computation to handle complex problems and perform a wide range of functions.

Ambient computing in this context? → We believe, an ambient computing system (which we can also call as technology powerhouse here) uses sensors, and interfaces to assist humans at the right time, place, and with the right context. This is diagonally opposite from traditional technical systems where users (humans) need to use sensors, and interfaces in order to access/utilize technology powerhouse and reach their objective.

Framework to understand the system’s utility

Before digging any deeper, it is crucial to understand ambient system's relative usefulness in a given environment. Different environments will have different needs, and some may benefit more from ambient systems than others. We can use a framework as a guiding light.

Let’s understand the boundary of a very simple ambient system first. In a simple ambient system, three key components are: 1) a clearly defined goal or end state, 2) a straightforward method of collecting the required data, and 3) processes that do not require subjective human interpretation. Wherever we find this 3 condition, we can easily place an ambient system. As the complexity of a system changes, so does the inputs and associated conditions.

Given any ambient system, we can understand the utility of the system based on multiple criteria. We believe the areas where it can produce the most impact are the ones which are:

• Where the use of tech is not possible (due to urgency or the critical nature of the job)
• Emergency response, ICU, pilots, police, space crew, combat situations, firefighters
• Which value personally to be more present in the situation
• And not involve themselves in technical systems. Examples include doctors, teachers, debaters, and people giving speeches.
• Areas where humans need to interact with many devices and information to complete the job.

Wider Vision

Ambient systems are valuable because they are self-sufficient and capable of solving problems without constant human attention. By taking on tasks that would otherwise fall to humans, they free up time and resources for more valuable pursuits. In other words, they allow humans to focus on what matters most, while the ambient systems handle the rest.

While ambient systems are impressive on their own, they are even more powerful when considered as part of a broader human-machine integration system. In this system, ambient systems are like individual building blocks that work together to create a cohesive whole. Ultimately, the goal is to create a harmonious and symbiotic relationship between humans and machines

Privacy → One crucial segment where work is needed is around privacy. We need to develop the norms for this era from the ground up. In the last 2 decades, we have been using tons of applications where the developers had complete access to the data. In the next era, we need to pass on the ownership of data to users, not only of the physical data, but also entire electronic data relevant to the person. It requires huge conscious efforts.

We discuss more about different aspects of privacy here.