  The internet-of-things (IoT) refers to the growing field of interconnected
pervasive computing devices and the networking that supports smart, embedded
applications. The IoT has multiple human-computer interaction challenges due to
its many formats and interlinked components, and central to these is the need
to provide sensory information and situational context pertaining to users in a
more human-friendly, easily understandable format. This work addresses this by
applying mixed reality toward expressing the underlying behaviors and states
internal to IoT devices and IoT-enabled objects. It extends the authors'
previous research on IoT Avatars (mixed reality character representations of
physical IoT devices), presenting a new head-mounted display framework and
interconnection architecture. This contributes i) an exploration of mixed
reality for smart spaces, ii) an approach toward expressive avatar behaviors
using fuzzy inference, and iii) an early functional prototype of a hybrid
physical and mixed reality IoT-enabled object. This approach is a step toward
new information presentation, interaction, and engagement capabilities for
smart devices and environments.
