Intel Experiments with Pervasive Computing at New Tech Center

If there is any dream associated with technology, it is the desire to see it learn and adapt according to people's needs, and this is precisely what Intel seeks to hep accomplish through its new research center.

Intel has initiated and participated in many research endeavors, some of which go beyond its main area of expertise.

In this case, the company decided to see what it could do for that not so little thing called pervasive technology.

This is the technical term used to describe technology capable of learning and adapting to users' needs constantly.

Of course, there isn't any real, practical application that exhibits this sort of highly convenient behavior at the moment, but this doesn't mean Intel isn't bent on making it reality.

More specifically, the Santa Clara, California-based company has opened a new Intel Science and Technology Center (ISTC), based at the university of Washington.

It is there that research will be carried out for low-power sensing and communication, understanding human state and activities and personalization and adaptation technologies.

“The next generation of pervasive computing systems will continuously learn environments, objects, schedules and preferences of their users,” said Limor Fix, Intel’s director of academic programs and research.

“These future apps will be capable of supporting complex tasks such as cooking a soufflé or building a complicated piece of furniture. Consumers will have a far richer experience than the technologies of today can offer and will be able to spend far more time achieving their goals than figuring out how to make the technology work.”

The fields set to benefit most form any success in this area are those of family coordination systems, mobile health and wellbeing and task spaces, like smart kitchens and the like.

Whether sentient homes and other concepts from people's dreams (or nightmares) ever come to pass remains to be seen.