Laying the Foundation for Ambient Experiences
Despite being a future-looking technology concept, the foundations of ambient computing are already in place today across commonly used devices and areas of technology, such as smartphones, the smart home, wearables, and smart cities.
Smartphones are central to ambient experiences. Today, these devices have AI-powered digital assistants that collate user data and sensor data, and then present information that is relevant to the user. However, this process of interaction is reactive to the user and what they are asking the digital assistant. For example, the user says “turn on the lights” when they are in their home and this is actioned.
Looking ahead, this smartphone use case will advance to bring more ambient intelligence to the user experience. Future AI-powered digital assistants on smartphones will deliver personalized, automatic, and autonomous experiences with minimal levels of user interaction. They will understand the user’s location and perform a proactive action. For instance, actioning a “welcome home” message when they walk into the home, and adapting the environment based on preferences that have already been pre-learned, like adjusting the temperature and lighting to the person’s preferred settings or even playing their preferred music based on the time of day or person’s mood.
The home, or ‘smart home,’ is another area that is central to ambient experiences, both now and in the future. Smart home devices are available today, such as intelligent lighting systems and thermostats, that require users to input their own preferences manually. However, the future will see these devices provide ambient experiences that are learned from the user, tailored and then applied automatically. It will also involve a combination of devices all automatically working together, with one device activating another through greater interoperability, and then delivering the best outcome for the user having learned their preferences and behaviors in the home. For example, this could be air purifiers that recognize high pollen days and automatically adjust their fan settings, while autonomously activating the robot vacuum to clean a specific area of the house that has seen high traffic that day.
Wearable devices, like smartwatches and fitness trackers, are other good examples that contribute to and benefit from ambient experiences. Currently, they collect user data and then provide personalized health and fitness recommendations, either through the wearable or on the smartphone. However, through future ambient experiences, recommendations from ongoing health monitoring could be extended into other devices and services. For instance, a service that offers different meal options based on the health needs of individuals. This could even involve collecting biometric data from wearable devices and using it to inform music and lighting choices in the home.
Outside of the consumer technology space, there are examples of ambient computing applications in urban environments. ‘Smart cities’ use connected infrastructure, like traffic lights, smart signage, and public transportation, that adapt to real-time conditions and provide relevant information to the public. For example, today there are sensors in trains that detect whether certain carriages are busy or not, and then communicate that information to passengers. However, in the future, this could evolve to real-time directional instructions through indoor geolocation services that guide people to the right space for them based on their travel preferences and context within the train carriage. This could extend to offer modal transport options based on live data, serving up train times to the gym based on previous travel habits, time of day, traffic on the road, and public transport timetables.
