Using 3D simulators for the ambient assisted living

Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) and Ambient Intelligence (AmI) aim at building safe, smart and interconnected environments around people. Nevertheless, the testing phase of intelligent software systems managing smart homes, in real environments, requires an enormous effort in terms of time, work and money. With this paper, we discuss the possibility to use 3D virtual environments during the developing and preliminary tests of such systems, as it happens in robotics with 3D simulators. Even if this approach cannot totally replace the need of real user trials, it can speed up the implementation of prototypes, decoupling software from hardware. We also present a brief description of a proof-of-concept, showing some of the benefits described.