Mobile Robots and Autonomic Ambient Assisted Living

Abstract

The use of Smart Environments in the delivery of pervasive care is a research topic that has witnessed increasing interest in recent years. These environments aim to deliver pervasive care through ubiquitous sensing by monitoring the occupants Activities of Daily Living. In order for these environments to succeed in achieving their goal, it is crucial that sensors deployed in the environment perform faultlessly. In this research we investigate addressing anomalous sensor behavior through the utilization of a mobile robot. The robot's role is twofold; it must provide substitution in the presence of suspected sensor faults and act as an observer of anomalous sensor behavior in order to understand the changes that occur in the behavior of sensors deployed within the environment over time. The aim of this work is to explore a paradigm shift to the use of Autonomic Ambient Assisted Living.We have discovered that the use of a mobile robot is a viable means of introducing this paradigm to a Smart Environment.