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INTERNET OF THINGS FOR DESIGNING SMART OBJECTS

Gualtiero Fantoni, Ph.D

University of PisaDepartment of Civil and Industrial EngineeringResearch Center "E. Piaggio"

7/03/2014 Seoul, South Korea

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Presentation SummaryD. Mazzei1, G. Fantoni1,2, G. Montelisciani2, G. Baldi3

1 Research Center "E. Piaggio", University of Pisa, Italy2 Department of Civil and Industrial Engineering, University of Pisa, Italy3 Medita Engineering, Pisa, Italy

• INTRODUCTION

• A PLATFORM FOR DESIGNING SMART OBJECTS

• AN EXEMPLARY CASE

• CONCLUSIONS

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Research Questions

• Is it possible to design products with high level of customizability?

• What is the role of Internet of Things (IoT) in keeping people interested in the creation and re-creation of smart objects?

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DIY for All

• High entrance barriers;• Low interoperability of the available systems;• Separation of available tools: soft and hard.

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The Role of IoT• Making is connecting together things, as well as ideas

and people;

• The impact of ICT and web 2.0: communities of people helping each other, sharing ideas and creations;

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Mass Makers

Internet

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Allowing Anyone To Create Smart Objects

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Customizability;

Modularity;

DIY for all;

Interconnectivity; Electronically skilled

users and makers (previously called

nerds, now geeks or even more politically

correct Pro-Ams)

Designers and Creative users

(artists, architects, hobbyists)

Mainstream users (my

mother, my little nephew)

USERS

4 new needs

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Customizability as a need

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Poneblocks and Ara projectSmartphones look the same, but when you switch them on ..

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A Platform for Designing Smart Objects

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#SomeLand is both a set of “bricks” and a way of conceiving smart objects ready for the new “Internet of Things” paradigm

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A Platform for Designing Smart Objects

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A Platform for Designing Smart Objects

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A Platform for Designing Smart Objects

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A Platform for Designing Smart Objects

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A Platform for Designing Smart Objects

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An Exemplary Case: The Puzzle Lamp

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BODY Plastic Puzzle boxBRAIN Board: Arduino Uno + Ethernet Shield

Sensors: Temperature; Light; Sound; CapacitiveActuators: Diffusive RGB Led; Vibration motor

WHEN (Value) DO (Value)Touch Intensity (5 ÷ 10) Vibration (on)Noise (0 ÷ 3) LED Blink (0 ÷ 5)

LED Color (Red)Noise (3 ÷ 10) LED Blink (5 ÷ 10)

LED Color (Green)Temperature (7 ÷ 10) Tweet (“It’s hot!”)

WHAT WHEN (Value) DO (Value)Twitter Notifier Tweet (Received) LED Color (Red)Smart Candle Noise (9÷10) LED (Off)Weather Notifier

Forecasts (Low Rain)LED Blink (3)Forecasts (Medium Rain)

Forecasts (Low Rain)Strobo Lamp Noise (10)

Led Blink (10)Light (1)

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From a «geek» object to a «user centered one»

• Online survey with few questions (#400 people):• What are the last three actions you do before leaving home in the

morning?• What are the reasons why you go back home immediately after being

exited?• What are the first three actions you do when you enter home?• What are the reasons why during the day you think of your house?

• A new shield has been designed: it has a Sparkcore/Arduino (microcontroller), an IR receiver and emitter, a sound, a touch, a light, a temperature and a humidity sensor. It is connected to the web, thus several information can be gathered and mixed for sure from your Social world but also from other channels (city weather forecast, calendar, traffic condition).

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A use case as described by some users

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A use case as described by some users

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A use case as described by some users

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A use case as described by some users

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? ? ?

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An example of possible uses• It’s 07:30 a.m. The weather forecast says it will rain at 06:00 p.m.,

there’s traffic jam on the highway. SOME lights on the umbrella icon and on the metro icon, while it does not highlight the need of water for your flowers since the rain will water them for you.

• You set the alarm clock for 07:30 a.m., you have an appointment at the office at 08:30 a.m., but there is a strike in the metro, and the flowers are thirsty. Therefore SOME wakes you up a bit earlier since you can take your bicycle but you need 5 minutes more and please… do not forget the flowers!

• 07:30 p.m. The day has been long, you are tired and you feel cold even if the temperature is ok. For sure your house is even colder than the office. Therefore you open the SOME App and turn on the air-conditioner in winter mode.

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Conclusions• The shield has been designed and it works

with both Arduino and Spark Core.• The virtual machine is in progress and it manages both

Arduino and Spark Core, the platform and interface is going to be made more attractive.

• An industrial designer is helping us with nice shapes and a communication campaign.

• A new generation of more specialized SOME objects is coming, the purpose is to test them with a series of selected users (with different levels of interaction).

• May be you can be one of our backers in

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Acknowledgments

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The project started during the course “PhDplus: Creativity, innovation, entrepreneurial spirit”, University of Pisa.

The financial support of MISE Project “IoTPrise: Internet of Things: trasferimento di tecnologie e creazione d’impresa” (Bando RIDITT, DM 22/12/2009); EU LLP Programme – Leonardo Da Vinci (n° 2012-1-IT1-LEO05-02794): “EEC: European Enterpreuners Campus”.

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7/03/2014 Seoul, South Korea