Determining States and Modifying Environments According to States

Abstract

Methods and systems for determining states of environments and modifying the environments according to the states are disclosed. In one aspect, the method includes a robot device determining for an environment a state comprising a plurality of state attributes for the environment. The method further includes receiving a request for the state and, in response to receiving the request, modifying the environment to comprise at least some of state attributes. The robot device may determine the state by receiving indications of at least some of the state attributes from some or all of a user, a server, another robot device, and another device. The attributes may be user attributes for a particular user, or may be event attributes for a particular type of event. The request may take the form of a request from a user, a calendar event, or a user arrival.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A device comprising:
 a communication interface; and   a processor configured to:
 determine that a particular user is located within an environment; 
 provide, using the communication interface and to a first computing device, an indication that the particular user is located within the environment; 
 receive, using the communication interface and from the first computing device, instructions for modifying one or more aspects of the environment to create a specific state in response to determining that the particular user is located within the environment; and 
 cause, using the communication interface, a second computing device to modify the one or more aspects of the environment to create the specific state. 
   
     
     
         2 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein determining that the particular user is located within the environment comprises:
 receiving data from a third device associated with the particular user, wherein the data specifies a current location of the third device.   
     
     
         3 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the second computing device corresponds to a home automation system. 
     
     
         4 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the first computing device is a server positioned remotely from the environment. 
     
     
         5 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein determining that the particular user is located within the environment comprises:
 monitoring the environment using a plurality of images from a camera positioned in the environment.   
     
     
         6 . The device of  claim 5 , wherein monitoring the environment using the plurality of images from the camera positioned in the environment further comprises:
 compiling an inventory of objects in the environment based on the plurality of images, wherein the inventory of objects indicates respective positions for objects within the environment.   
     
     
         7 . The device of  claim 6 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
 detect a difference in the inventory of objects in the environment using the plurality of images.   
     
     
         8 . The device of  claim 7 , wherein determining that the particular user is located within the environment is further based on detecting the difference in the inventory of objects. 
     
     
         9 . The device of  claim 8 , wherein providing the indication that the particular user is located within the environment comprises:
 providing information representing the difference in the inventory of objects along with the indication.   
     
     
         10 . The device of  claim 9 , wherein causing the second computing device to modify the one or more aspects of the environment to create the specific state comprises:
 causing the second computing device to manipulate the inventory of objects based on the difference in the inventory of objects.   
     
     
         11 . A method comprising:
 determining, at a first computing device, that a particular user is located within an environment,   providing, by the first computing device and to a second computing device, an indication that the particular user is located within the environment,   receiving, at the first computing device and from the second computing device, instructions for modifying one or more aspects of the environment to create a specific state in response to determining that the particular user is located within the environment, and   causing, by the first computing device, one or more other devices to modify the one or more aspects of the environment to create the specific state.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the one or more other devices includes a home automation system. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the second computing device is a server positioned remotely from the environment. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein determining that the particular user is located within the environment comprises:
 monitoring the environment using a plurality of images from a camera positioned in the environment.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein monitoring the environment using the plurality of images from the camera positioned in the environment further comprises:
 compiling an inventory of objects in the environment based on the plurality of images, wherein the inventory of objects indicates respective positions for the objects within the environment.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , further comprising:
 detecting a difference in the inventory of objects in the environment using the plurality of images.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein determining that the particular user is located within the environment is further based on detecting the difference in the inventory of objects. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein providing the indication that the particular user is located within the environment comprises:
 providing information representing the difference in the inventory of objects along with the indication.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein causing the one or more other devices to modify the one or more aspects of the environment to create the specific state comprises:
 causing at least one other device to manipulate the inventory of objects based on the difference in the inventory of objects.   
     
     
         20 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium configured to store instructions, that when executed by a computing system comprising one or more processors, causes the computing system to perform functions comprising:
 determining that a particular user is located within an environment,   providing, to a second computing device, an indication that the particular user is located within the environment,   receiving, from the second computing device, instructions for modifying one or more aspects of the environment to create a specific state in response to determining that the particular user is located within the environment, and   causing one or more other devices to modify the one or more aspects of the environment to create the specific state.