Section: Overall Objectives

A Multi-Disciplinary Approach

We focus our attention on the domain of applications that orchestrate networked objects, whether populating smart spaces or worn by individuals on-the-go. Because such applications are intimately intertwined with the users' daily life and professional activities, they can improve users' efficiency in performing tasks or compensate for the users' deficiencies and disabilities, promoting autonomy. However, this emerging domain of assistive computing raises scientific challenges that go beyond the boundaries of Computer Science. To address these challenges, the Phoenix group has been conducting interdisciplinary research that combines

• Cognitive Science to study user needs and make a rigorous assessment of the services provided to users;

• Sensing and actuating expertise to support users, based on accurate and rich interactions with their environment;

• Design-driven software engineering to support and guide all the development process of the services provided to users.