Project R-7546

End-User Development of Intelligible Internet-of-Things Objects and Applications. (Research)

The emerging trend of Internet of Things (IoT) refers to networks of physical objects with autonomous processing capability and various sensors. The number and diversity of IoT objects in our daily environments, and their complex processing and communication capabilities, makes taking control over IoT objects and applications an overwhelming task for end-users. This is reinforced by the fact that IoT objects and applications often aim to be invisible, with autonomous, context-aware and smart behavior. In this proposal, we explore solutions that allow end-users to enforce and create intelligible IoT objects and applications. Intelligible meaning IoT objects can convey their behavior and inner working to the user. Our goal is to build an end-user development (EUD) environment to create virtual and physical IoT extensions and control interfaces that take intelligibility into account. We first study intelligibility properties of IoT, and we map out a design space that aids in defining intelligible IoT designs. Next, we create a reference framework to evaluate and improve the presence of IoT intelligibility, and we prototype software agents to determine the role, accessibility and extensibility of IoT objects and applications. These results are brought together in the EUD environment, in which end-users can create personal intelligible IoT extensions and interfaces. This process can include the fabrication of physical objects that are to be integrated with existing IoT objects.

01 January 2017 - 31 December 2020