<title>Context-aware mobile systems for managing services</title>

Abstract

We propose context-aware mobile systems for managing and using services on the behalf of the user. Context-aware mobile systems perceive environmental signals, infer the context (i.e. the state of the system and its local environment) from these signals, and calculate appropriate actions for the detected context. In its simplest form, such a system can be a mobile telephone adjusting its profile based on the noise level and brightness of the environment. A personal robot equipped with a vision system and a manipulator is a more complex example of a context-aware mobile system. Context-aware mobile systems both manage the available services and use them on behalf of the user or guide the user in using them. A portable system offers a single interface for a variety of services. The role of a personal robot is to enhance some services so as to make them more suitable to the user. Both portable and robotic systems are controlled by a system capable of recognizing the user's context and reasoning out actions that would optimally serve the user in the situation at hand. In this paper, we will present our software architecture for context-aware service management and utilization, our approach for controlling personal robots, and our work on virtual and natural interfaces for interacting with a personal robot.