SmartElevator: revitalizing a legacy device through inexpensive augmentation

Ubiquitous computing holds the promise of a more connected, more convenient, and more information rich world. However, the limited number of pervasive devices actually available greatly restricts the range of functionality currently available to ubiquitous computing applications. We present an approach whereby legacy devices are revitalized as new, pervasive artifacts through augmentation by inexpensive sensors and actuators. While such augmentation is commonplace in prototyping, we argue the technique has practical utility, especially with respect to larger, complex devices. For these devices, often a substantial investment has already been made and invasive retrofitting or replacement would be prohibitively expensive. To ground our approach, we have been investigating the use of this technique to modernize a legacy elevator system at our university. In this paper, we describe technical challenges we have encountered and report on our experience in addressing these challenges.