Introduction to UbiComp
Hao-Hua Chu
UbiComp Lab
Graduate Institute of Networking & Multimedia
Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering
National Taiwan University
What is Ubiquitous (Pervasive) Computing?
• Bring computing into our everyday activities in the physical
world
• What is the most natural way to access & interact with the
bits in the digital world?
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PCs with keyboard & mouse, monitors?
Mobile phones with tiny keypad & tiny screen?
Digital TVs?
Game consoles?
Digital Watches?
Combination of all of them?
Natural interaction with the bits (digital world)
• Maybe not through any of these unfamiliar digital access
devices!
• What if familiar physical objects can also become our
interface to the digital world?
– Desk, wall, floor, chair, fridge, papers, bed,
– As if computing devices have disappeared …
• Interaction with the digital world is through interaction in the
physical world.
Ubicomp Applied to Healthcare
• What is the natural way of delivering
online/Internet care to elders at home?
– PC-like devices (Notebook PCs, PDAs, cell
phones, etc.)?
• Elders’ ADLs do not naturally involve
PC-like devices
– But naturally involve everyday objects in
their physical surrounding
• Example: good-dietary service
– Create an information website?
– Built into a dining table
Invisible and Disappearing Computer (Weiser)
• Why invisible and disappearing”?
– Technology makes lives easier or more difficult
(for ordinary people)?
– “Usability “ and “simplicity”
• Better with nothing-never-nowhere
computing
Invisible and Disappearing Computer (Weiser)
• Unless necessary, don’t make people operate complex
machines to get digital services.
• Project Aura (CMU) “The most precious resource in a
computer system is .. User Attention. Today's systems distract
a user in many explicit and implicit ways, thereby reducing
his/her effectiveness.”
Smart Everyday Objects
• How to make computing invisible and disappearing?
– Hide computing into everyday objects
• Embed computing into familiar everyday objects
– computing, sensing, and networking capabilities
• Everyday objects understand you & environment (contextaware computing).
– Context = 5Ws (who – when – where – what – how)
Smart Everyday Objects (Examples)
• Posture Chair (MIT media lab)
• Bionic Running Shoes (Adidas)
• Moving Portrait (MIT media lab)
More Examples of Smart Objects
• History table cloth (EU Equator)
• Emotional Décor (NYU)
• I/O Brush (MIT)
Surface Computing (Microsoft Research)
• A new way that is so familiar to us.
• A new way that isn’t really new.
Maybe not so smart objects
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Casio Color Wrist Camera
Dada MP3 player shoes
LG Internet fridge
Credit Card Barbie Doll (from
Accenture)
Would you buy it for twice the price?
Please Vote
LED Display Cloth
A Wearable Display for Team Sports (U. of Sydney)
Topobo (MIT)
Blendie (MIT)
• A “sensitive” blender that
can express emotion.
Case Studies
• Diet-aware Dining Table (PERVASIVE 2006)
• Geta Sandals (Personal & Ubiquitous Computing)
• Object Locator Ring & Watch
Case Study 1: Diet-aware Dining Table
Detect what and how much you eat from the table
• Sensing to recognize behavior
– Combine weight sensor and RFID sensors
to track food transfer among containers
• Interaction
– Natural user eating behaviors become
system input (no need to operate any devices).
– How do you design a user interface
without affecting one’s appetite?
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Diet-Aware Dining Table: Single Interaction Example
• Bob pours tea from the tea pot to personal cup, and drinks it
Put on tea pot.
•RFID tag appears
•Weight increases ∆w3
Pour tea!
• |∆w3 - ∆w1 | ≈ ∆w2
Pick up tea pot.
Pour tea?
•Weight increases ∆w2.
• RFID tag disappears
• Weight decreases
∆w1
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Case Study 2: Geta Sandals
Shoes (Slippers) that track where you walk
• Track people’s locations with minimal
infrastructure in the deployed
environment
• Footstep-based localization
– Error accumulation (1~10%)
– Location-aware RFID tags
d2
d1
Case Study 3: Object Locator Ring (Watch)
Track locations of everyday things
• Where did I put these everyday things?
– Glasses, cell phones, wallets, keys, remote
controls, …
• Track locations of everyday things
– RFID reader on ring
– RFID tags on everyday objects
– Ultrasonic Indoor location systems (MIT Cricket)
How does it work?
• Assumption:
– Most objects are moved by hands
• Picking up phone:
– Phone presence (RFID tag) detected by the ring
antenna
• Carrying the phone:
– Continuous presence (on-hand)
– Non-presence (pocket-it)
• Dropping the phone:
– Phone presence (RFID tag) not detected by ring
antenna
• Location of the object?
Part II: Persuasive Objects
(Smart environment, smarter people)
Persuasive Computing
• Consider a frequent “ where are my (misplaced) things?” person …
• Possible solutions
– Build an object location tracker
– Build a beeper that remind misplaced objects
• Which one is more effective use of technology?
Can digital technology be used to help us …
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Eat healthy
Exercise more
Drive safely
Quit smoking
Become more tidy
Control spending
Dress style
Persuasive computing (objects)
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Baby Think It Over
Textrix VR Bike
Slot Machine
Smart Tachograph (ETH)
Case Studies
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Playful tray (UbiComp 2007)
Playful toothbrush (CHI 2008)
Mug-Tree (UbiComp 2007)
Nutritional-aware kitchen (CHI 2007, PERSUASIVE 2008)
Clean-your-room poster
ChroMirror (CHI 2008)
Mug-Forest (New)
Case Study 1: Playful Tray
Encourage good eating habit in young children
• Sense to recognize behavior
– Weight sensor underneath the tray to
sense eating actions
– Eating actions as game input
• Play to engage behavior change
– Interactive games: coloring cartoon
character or penguin fishing
• User study on 4 children (autistic)
Case Study 2: Playful Toothbrush
Encourage proper and thorough brushing for young children
•
Bad teeth for young children with cognitive
impairments)
• Sense to recognize behavior
– Webcam to detect brushing motions
– Brushing actions are game input
• Play to engage behavior change
– Start with a mirror image of dirty teeth.
– Physical brushing maps to virtual plaque
removal
• User study on 13 kindergarten children
Web camera
for tracking
brushing
motions
Camera #2 to
record videos
for later
human
Brush extension
analysis
Brushing
game
Case Study 3: Mug-Tree
Encourage healthy habit of drinking fluid regularly
• Sense to recognize behavior
– Tilt sensor to detect drinking actions
– Drinking actions are game inputs
• Play to engage behavior change
– Game metaphor: hydrating/dehydrating
body -> watering/drying a tree
Case Study 4: Nutrition-aware Kitchen
Raise awareness of nutritional fact to everyday family cooks
• Sense to recognize behavior
– Combine weight and camera sensors to
detect cooking actions (change food
ingredients)
– Voice input for food ingredient label
– Food ingredients -> meal calories
• Play to engage behavior change
– Overcooking calories -> overweight on a
family member
– Imbalance the seesaw board -> big boulder
sliding down
Case Study 4: Nutrition-aware Kitchen
Raise awareness of nutritional fact to everyday family cooks
• Awareness
• User study on 3 family cooks
(b)
(a)
name of ingredients, total calorie in this
container, and the most recent calorie
change
recommended
calorie needs
current calorie in
use in total
calorie of finished
course
(c)
Figure 7. User interface of Calorie-aware Kitchen, including (a) overview of calorie in the system; (b) recommended calorie needs and current
used calories; (c) a calorie-aware game with a beloved family member to bring enjoyment of calorie control
Case Study 5: Clean-your-room poster
Persuade young children to put things back where they belong after using them
• Sense to recognize behavior
– RFID sensors to check if things were put
back in the shelf
• Play to engage behavior change
– Misplaced things -> trash in the virtual
world
– Using child's sympathy for the animal to
persuade the child to put things back to
where they belong.
Case Study 6: ChroMirror
Persuade people to explore more colorful dressing
• Sense to recognize dress & dressing color
– Camera and Computer Vision
• Play to engage behavior change
– Easily and playfully explore &
experiment with how different clothing
color look on people
Case Study 7: Mug-Forest
• Can a mobile phone do more than a notebook PC?
– Mobility (always with a user), small form factor,
• Can a mobile phone be extended for non-verbal communication?
Case Study 7: Mug-Forest
Use social pressure for persuasion
• Sense to recognize drinking action
– Accelerometer (in a phone) to detect
drinking action
– Camera to detect water level
• Play to use “social pressure” to engage behavior
change
– Computer-mediated human
persuasion, not computer persuasion
Questions & Answers
Check out our projects & papers
NTU Ubicomp Lab http://mll.csie.ntu.edu.tw