The Royal Society Clifford Paterson Lecture , 1999 Sentient Computing

Sentient computing is the proposition that applications can be made more responsive and useful by observing and reacting to the physical world. It is particularly attractive in a world of mobile users and computers. The paper presents a classification and quantification of sensor information together with a description of a method for altering the behaviour of arbitrary terminal devices. It also presents a framework for " programming with space " which can associate space-related events with actions. Consideration is given to the applications made possible by such systems. Sentient computing Computers have become integral to our lives, but for many the gap between man and machine is so large as to be effectively unbridgeable. Central to any good working relationship is a degree of mutual understanding between the two parties. The problem with conventional human-computer interaction is that responsibility for understanding, or the lack of it, lies wholly with the user. The office PC illustrates this. Outwardly it seems different from earlier models of computing, such as time-sharing systems or even the mainframe. But, take away the mouse-driven user interface and the fundamentals remain unchanged. The burden for understanding lies wholly with the user. Not so long ago computers came with a team of dedicated operators. In the PC era everyone is his or her own operator. No wonder so many PCs are only used to a fraction of their potential. It does not have to be this way. Instead of bringing the user to the computer, let us take into account that people live and work in a real physical world, and make this notion – the concept of space – integral to the operation of our computer systems. We need to make computer systems aware of the physical environment – shifting part of the onus of understanding from user to machine. Awareness comes through sensing, and that implies the need for appropriate sensor technologies to collect status and location data. Applications can now be aware of their physical environment. They know where people and devices are and what devices