Smart Assistive User Interfaces in Private Living Environments

Abstract

The paper outlines a vision of how smart assistive user interfaces in private living environments could exceed the current state of the art. In particular, it is shown how a virtual assistant capable of evolution and capable of absorption is beneficial and a step towards an entity that is able to identify and make accessible through a user interface as many suitable services of the smart home environment as possible that fit the individual needs and interests of its users. Challenges such as the coherence challenge, the design challenge, the user acceptance challenge, and the security and privacy challenge are identified that are significant obstacles in realizing the vision. Based on this, approaches that provide a perspective to overcome these obstacles are presented. Here, the paper looks at advanced UI technology, robotics, user profiling and smart reasoning, software architectures, the internet of things, organic computing, and advanced security methodologies. Finally, the paper discusses a blueprint for a smart assistive user interface and the peculiarities in the application field of private living environments.