University of São Paulo: Ubiquitous Computing- Transforming Everyday Life Across Society
Initially shown in the 1960s, the animated series The Jetsons shows a futuristic world, from the 21st century, in which there are several technological advances compared to the time. In animation, technology is inserted into the lives of the characters, in a natural, present and even crucial way for the daily actions of that society.
In today’s world, many advances shown in that drawing have become reality, while others remain only in the imagination. However, something that the series completely gets right in relation to the future is precisely the relationship between humans and technology, with a link that is often imperceptible, but essential. With a term created in the 1990s, this technology is called ubiquitous computing.
Cíntia Margi, professor at the Polytechnic School (Poli) of the University of São Paulo, explains that the term ubiquitous indicates, in the dictionary definition, that which is present everywhere, universal and omnipresent. Thus, she comments that ubiquitous computing, despite being used daily by the population, is often hidden, in order to bring transparency to its users, with more information and fewer interactions. “There are many applications that we want to be transparent, without realizing that the computing is there, collecting information, monitoring, that it is capable of generating an alarm, doing something, but that we do not need to interfere”, he adds. .
Despite this, the professor exemplifies situations in which this technology should not be completely transparent, such as in the hospital environment, in which the doctor or nurse needs to obtain specific information, in which he must be able to interact with the system. According to the expert, this technology is often transparent to the user, but it has monitoring elements, which use specific information to interact with the doctor in charge and act on the system itself to offer better treatment.
Technology creation process
Cíntia comments that, in the process of creating these technologies, some major research axes are analyzed, such as the processing part, which are specific to each type of processor, with the different characteristics they require, technology communication — through networks of telephony, Wi-Fi or other protocols developed to allow long- and short-range, or low-cost, communication — and the part facing the sensor, which also differs in each situation, analyzing the environment to obtain information, and connects with these other researched areas.
However, even with targeted research in some cases — it can permeate several areas or be more specific — the professor states that, in the development of technologies, they can be thought of in one context, but inserted, over time, in several other contexts. that were not analyzed in their creation, discovering new benefits in practice. “When they invented Bluetooth, the idea was to basically connect the mouse to the computer, it was a very simple communication. Today I am using Bluetooth to connect my phone to my cell phone, or my cell phone in the car, so I can exchange navigation information”, she explains.
According to the expert, ubiquitous computing, like any technology, if not observed carefully, can have a negative effect — even if this is not analyzed in its creation. For its users, it sees an accommodation with ubiquitous computing, accustomed to the information and comfort it brings. Furthermore, it comments on the need for security, both information and critical, to guarantee the reliability of the system.
“This risk ends up being analyzed after the technology has already been implemented, because when we think about ubiquitous computing, we think about improving the environment, about having information that will bring benefits to the user. So, in the development of technology, I always see the search for the positive, for support. Like all technology, we develop it to have more quality, more results, but we always have to be careful in how it is being used, to really bring benefits to the general population”, he says.
Current benefits and possibilities
Cíntia explains that, despite society’s general fear, ubiquitous computing will never replace a specialist. Its role will always be to bring more information and tools to make human work more intelligent and creative. She also points out several examples of benefits of ubiquitous computing: “The issue of home, hospital, building, vehicle automation, this entire automation process is interconnected with ubiquitous computing, with this ubiquitous computing, and, as we have these processes, we end up bringing more well-being to people. So we increasingly have computing to make our daily lives easier, to make them more comfortable.”
The professor states that building automation is already very present in the daily lives of many people — with biometrics for opening gates, for example — and adds that, with vehicle automation, there can be monitoring of traffic on the roads, with the possibility to eventually have intelligent traffic lights that will perceive the difference in traffic flow and favor a certain direction. She also comments on the sensors present in cars, with on-board electronics, which are often forgotten by users, who only analyze the multimedia present, without observing the computing used.
According to Cíntia, these advances in vehicle automation could even lead to the production of autonomous vehicles, in which computing will be responsible for driving the cars. However, as they began to do some real testing for this implementation, previously unanalyzed problems emerged. “While it is close, it is still far away, because there are certain situations that, in controlled test environments, did not appear, but when it went out into the street they began to appear. One factor that was not taken into account was precisely how humans will react: with an autonomous vehicle, we change the way it operates, and what the vehicle had learned, with rules established for them, no longer applies, or creates different situations. “, ends.