On the Users’ Acceptance of IoT Systems: A Theoretical Approach

Abstract

In the next future the IoT system will introduce extraordinary changes in our daily life. We will communicate with our domestic appliances to inform them about our preferences and goals and they will develop initiative and autonomy to be put at our service. But are we sure that we can afford all the automation they could offer? Are we able to manage it? Is it compatible with our cognitive attitudes and our actual and real goals? In this paper, we face the question of the IoT from the point of view of the user. We start analyzing which reasons undermine the acceptance of IoT systems and then we propose a possible solution. The first contribution of this work is the level characterization of the autonomy a user can grant to an IoT device. The second contribution is a theoretical model to deal with users and to stimulate users’ acceptance. By the means of simulation, we show how the model works and we prove that it leads the system to an optimal solution.