A Network of Stationary Sensors and Mobile Robots for Distributed Ambient Intelligence

In the last few decades, sensor networks have received significant attention in the field of ambient intelligence (AmI) for surveillance and assisted living applications, as they provide a powerful tool to capture relevant information about environments and human activities. Mobile robots hold promise for enhancing the potential of sensor networks toward the development of intelligent systems that are able not only to detect events but also to actively intervene in the environment accordingly. This article presents the Distributed Ambient Intelligence Architecture that aims at integrating multisensor robotic platforms with wireless sensor networks. Based on the robot operating system, it provides a flexible and scalable software infrastructure extendible to different AmI scenarios. This article describes the proposed architecture and presents experimental tests, showing the feasibility of the system in the context of ambient assisted living.