The surroundings are familiar, but the objects around you are “animated”, independently so, and despite their apparent autonomy, they remain completely powered by you.
Your alarm clock is a pulsating vibration at the nape of your neck, thanks to “IM Blanky”; your umbrella, self-charging by the door, depicts a bright blue hue on its canvas (ahh, it will be a sunny day); the kitchen surface, upon touch, shares your day’s schedule and a bio of the IT director you will interview. Now, imagine this “embedded technology” on a grander scale; in the infrastructure of a building, programmed to transmit alert messages to forecast water damage, electrical malfunctions or erosion in the foundation. Welcome to a Smart City!
This is no longer a dream sequence. It is a research agenda that is now vigorously promoted at U-SoA, with several projects underway in the RAD-UM lab, including a smart city in Yucatan: Zenciti.
“We are designing a smart city from the ground up; a perfect opportunity for our knowledge and imagination to be both tested and expanded”, confirms Dean el-Khoury of U-SoA.
This effort to embrace Smart Cities planning and its impact on the built environment has led U-SoA to join forces with the Center for Computational Science (CCS @ UM), lead by Dean Rodolphe el-Khoury. The program launches its first annual conference in Miami, on February 23 & 24th and will focus on the emerging trends and technology on infrastructure and the built environment.
Rest-assured, that if you engage with any “animated” objects such as these, in the very near future – you are not in REM, nor in Kansas anymore.
Join us at the Smart Cities Conference, and bring your (smart) umbrella!
For more info: http://ccs.miami.edu/smartcities
