Enabling Ambient Intelligence Research with SoapBox Platform

Enabling Ambient Intelligence Research with SoapBox Platform: "One approach for ambient intelligence research is to study what happens as sensing, computing and wireless communication capabilities are added to everyday objects. At VTT Electronics scientists have designed and implemented SoapBox, Sensing, Operating and Activating Peripheral Box, which makes this approach possible.
SoapBox is put together from commercial components. It possesses small size, low power consumption, RF-communication in unlicenced radio-band and a set of in-built sensors. It also has IO capabilities to connect to user devices. As user devices we use mainly PDA%u2019s which nowadays offer decent support for application development. However, using a PC or laptop is also possible.
By installing SoapBoxes in everyday objects we really can have computers everywhere. With the wireless communication link all these computers are continuously connected to the user device, enhancing user-real world communication to entirely new level compared to situation with no such system or systems based solely on existing commercial devices (see Figure 2).
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