Machine learning takes on the all-too-human discipline of space planning - SiliconANGLE

Chris Lord relates the story of a space planner at one higher educational institution who faced a conundrum: Plenty of square footage had been allocated for study space, but students were complaining that there weren't enough places to sit. The university had equipped the space with large trestle tables that seated six people, but it turned out that if just one person was sitting at a table nobody else would. The solution: Place houseplants in the middle of the table to divide the space and create a perception of privacy. In short, the space plan looked good on paper but didn't account for human behavior. That's a bug Boston-based Lambent is hoping to fix.