A diffuse domotic control powered by a networked intelligence

We describe a diffuse control system for household appliances rooted in an Internet of Thing network empowered by a cognitive system. The key idea is that these appliances constitute an ecosystem populated by a plenty of devices with common features, yet called to satisfy in an almost repetitive way needs that may be very diversified, depending on the user preferences. This calls for a network putting them in connection and a cognitive system that is capable to interpret the user requests and translate them into instructions to be transmitted to the appliances. This in turn requires a proper architecture and efficient protocols for connecting the appliances to the network, as well as robust algorithms that concretely challenge cognitive and connectionist theories to produce the instructions ruling the appliances. We discuss both aspects from a design perspective and exhibit a mockup where connections and algorithms are implemented.