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Self-organizable panel for assembling DIY ubiquitous computing

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Abstract

This paper proposes the concept of DIY (do-it-yourself) ubiquitous computing, an architecture allowing non-experts to establish ubiquitous computing environments in the real world. This concept has been implemented in the “u-Texture”, which is a self-organizable panel that works as a building block. While the traditional scheme attaches devices such as computers, sensors, and network equipments externally to make everyday objects smart, the u-Texture has these devices built in beforehand to assemble smart objects. The u-Texture can change its own behavior autonomously through recognition of its location, its angle of inclination, and surrounding environment by assembling these factors physically. This paper describes the design, the implementation, and various applications of u-Textures to confirm that the concept can contribute to establishment of ubiquitous computing environments in the real world without expert users.

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Acknowledgments

This research has been conducted as part of Ubila Project supported by Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Japan. We would like to express our appreciation to Keio Ubila team and Uchida Yoko Co., Ltd. for supporting this research. And thanks to the reviewers for helpful suggestions and comments.

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Correspondence to Naohiko Kohtake.

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Kohtake, N., Ohsawa, R., Yonezawa, T. et al. Self-organizable panel for assembling DIY ubiquitous computing. Pers Ubiquit Comput 11, 591–606 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00779-006-0118-z

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