Generic principles from Ambient Intelligence with Tangible Objects are applied to the entertainment industry, with the objective of developing generic and flexible entertainment systems, and flexible and re-configurable manufacturing systems. The main idea is to establish an environment where the entertainment system, and the production elements (people and equipment) are turned into tangible objects, allowing identification and communication with each other and the surroundings in which they inhabit, thus forming Ambient Intelligence.

Intelligent LEGO bricks
Distribution of processing is radical different from the conventional use of LEGO MINDSTORMS and other entertainment robots with central control. Imagine that all components in the toy system have processing power. Then, the physical construction with such components will lead to entities not only with a certain physical shape, but also with certain functionality and behavior. In a sense, children would be “programming by building”, since the way that the children put the electronic bricks together will decide the functionality of the construction. Hence, it will be possible to free the LEGO robotic system from the computer: the child may simply open the box, empty the box on the floor, build the physical shape and functionality, and play with the electronic LEGO system. It would be possible to build electronic LEGO systems without a computer, and without knowledge about programming languages. So, with the development of such a system it may be possible also to target younger age groups than the current LEGO MINDSTORMS users.

Flexible inter processing
In order to develop a flexible production environment intelligence and communication power will be distributed to production equipment of all forms. This will enable production equipment of different types to interact with each other, autonomously handling low-level decisions as part of the collective production platform. A high-level shop floor control system will handle communication with other systems, distribute overall tasks, ensuring that overall schedule is achieved, and track the complete status of the entire system. In the flexible inter processing scenario different types of items are moved from one place to another depending of production specific requirements. The requirements can specify one-of-a kind, small quantity or large quantity of items to be moved. A temporary/partial or complete item is placed alone or together with other items for either further manufacturing or temporary storage. An item is undergoing a series of manufacturing activities and must be stored, retrieved and moved between such activities.

Jini as a foundation technology for pervasive systems
Responsible: Kasper Hallenborg, Email: khp@mip.sdu.dk

Java-enabled cell phones for pervasive services
Responsible: Bo N. Jørgensen, Email: bnj@mip.sdu.dk

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