Trustworthy Multimodal Intelligent Systems for Independent Living (Cognitive Technologies)

This book is an essential guide for anyone interested in how artificial intelligence can enhance the quality of life for individuals who wish to maintain autonomy in their own homes. The author begins by introducing the reader to AI applications in independent living environments, such as smart assisted homes and AI-driven personalization, and thoughtfully explores the ethical challenges involved. With a strong focus on the intersection of technology and human needs, the book provides a detailed roadmap for building intelligent systems that promote safety, independence, and dignity, especially for elderly or vulnerable populations. The author offers both foundational knowledge and critical discussions around the opportunities and limitations of AI when applied to daily life scenarios.

A major strength of the book lies in its thorough examination of multimodal systems. Readers are introduced to a rich array of sensor technologies including wearable devices, environmental sensors, vision-based systems, and sound-based inputs. These components are described not only in terms of their individual functionalities but also in how they interact and fuse data to support complex inference tasks. The text walks the reader through system architectures—centralized and distributed—while emphasizing data fusion, synchronization, and real-time versus batch processing. Through practical examples such as fall detection alerts and activity recognition, the book highlights the engineering challenges and solutions involved in building robust, responsive, and user-accepted assistive systems. Ethical deployment, user engagement, long-term maintenance, and family involvement are all addressed in ways that reflect real-world concerns and user diversity.

The book also tackles some of the most pressing topics in AI today: data privacy, explainability, and trust. With an entire section dedicated to synthetic data, it explains how artificial data can be used to train effective models while safeguarding user privacy. 

Dr. Zia Uddin completed his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering in 2011. He is currently working as a senior research scientist in Sustainable Communication Technologies Department of SINTEF Digital, Oslo, Norway. He has been leading and collaborating on work packages in various national and international research projects. His research fields are mainly focused on data and feature analysis from various sources for physical/mental healthcare using machine learning/artificial intelligence/XAI. Dr. Zia also has a solid teaching experience with more than 20 computer science-related courses from bachelor’s degree to Ph.D. Dr. Zia has around 170 peer-reviewed research publications, including prestigious international journals, conferences, and book chapters. He was rewarded with the Gold Medal Award (2008) for academic excellence in undergraduate study at International Islamic University Chitatgong, Bangladesh. He was also awarded the Korean Government IT Scholarship (March 2007 to February 2011) and Kyung Hee University President Scholarship (March 2007 to February 2011).