Ambient Intelligence Through Agile Agents - Ambient Intelligence for Scientific Discovery - page 294

Gulliver's Genie [23-26, 29] has investigated various issues relating to the
practical realization of the mobile computing paradigm. More specifically, suit-
able architectures for realizing mobile computing applications, thereby facili-
tating the delivery of services including those with a substantial and dynamic
multimedia component have been the subject of particular attention.
From an application domain perspective, the Genie currently focuses on ad-
dressing the needs of roaming tourists, as this domain represents a microcosm of
the broad issues facing ambient intelligence. In this the Genie is not a unique en-
deavor as a cursory examination of the literature will testify. One project similar
in scope and objectives is CRUMPET [30]. The indoor scenario, for example,
museums, art galleries and exhibitions, has also been the subject of much re-
search. Indeed, a useful overview of activity in this area may also be found in
Bellotti et al [2].

3.1 Services

In theory, the Genie can provide any standard location-aware service. However,
when the needs of tourists are considered, two services are essential: navigation
support and the provision of cultural content. Given that tourists are almost
inevitably exploring unknown territory, a navigation-support component is of
practical importance. While roaming, tourists will encounter sites of cultural
significance. Various aspects concerning such sites may be of interest to the
tourist. In addition, there may be relationships between those sites and other
attractions that the tourist has encountered during their travels. Such relation-
ships may not be obvious without careful research on the visitor's part. As the
tourist's spatial context and personal profile are known, there are significant
opportunities for enhancing their experience through the proactive and selec-
tive delivery of appropriate content. The service is realized in the Genie in the
form of rich multimedia presentations concerning the attractions encountered.
An example of such a presentation may be seen in Fig. 5.

3.2 Pertinent Characteristics

Gulliver's Genie differs in a number of key aspects from other efforts in this
area. However, two key differentiators are of special interest. The first is that,
similar to CRUMPET, it adopts an approach based on intelligent agents. More
specifically, however, it incorporates agents that conform to the strong notion
of agency as articulated by Wooldridge & Jennings [38], and, in this case, such
agents adopt a reasoning strategy based on the Belief-Desire-Intention (BDI)
paradigm. Traditionally, the computational cost of deploying such agents on
lightweight devices was prohibitively expensive. Recent developments in hard-
ware and software have rendered such concerns obsolete, except of course in the
case of the most basic devices.
A second feature of particular interest is the strategy the Genie adopts for
disseminating content. Users have high expectations and seek immediate access
to desired content at any time, in any place and, increasingly, on any device.