The smart home technology revolution may not be far from infiltrating the common home.
The eHome project’s mass adoption into North American homes may be driven by Microsoft’s launch of Mira, the code-name for a WebPAD-type device that can be carried around the house. Mira can work as a wireless, flat-panel display that connects with a PC, and allows touch-screen control of DVD players, TV Web access and wireless computing gadgets.
Meanwhile, Europe is also embracing the concept of cutting-edge technologies for the home. Recently, the Philips HomeLab in Eindhoven, Netherlands was launched by Royal Philips Electronics to study how people interact with prototypes of intelligent technology in a real-world environment.
HomeLab is an actual live-in “home” – complete with a living room, kitchen, two bedrooms, bathroom and study – that is linked to sophisticated observation rooms through hidden cameras, microphones and one-way mirrors. This allows Philips’ researchers to “live” with the occupants 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week in order to better understand their needs and motivations to use technology, and bring the best products to the market as quickly as possible.
“The research conducted at Philips HomeLab will lay the foundation for adapting and training technology to better meet human needs,” said Rodney Brooks, director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. “[HomeLab] is more than a ‘model’ home of the future – it is a living facility in which the technologies are real and only a few years away from entering the market.”
HomeLab features a range of Ambient Intelligent prototypes, or technologies that are sensitive, personalized, adaptive and responsive to people. Home entertainment systems can respond to human voice commands, or create digital fantasy environments for virtual reality games. For example, music will come from MP3s stored on the HomeLab computer jukebox, which can recognize and play a hummed tune. Biofeedback technology is embedded into everyday household objects, which will enable a bathroom mirror to tell people if they are ill. An interactive user interface even consolidates multiple home devices into a single system for managing typical digital activities, such as recording a voice mail, watching a video, or listening to music from any room in the home.
Most connections for the HomeLab are wireless, with systems controlled by handheld devices and large-area, flat-panel displays. The HomeLab’s wireless Local Area Network (LAN) also has access to the outside world via broadband Internet.
Whether or not these eHome technologies will become a viable and affordable reality for homes across the world, the concept of state-of-the-art homes offers the promise of more convenience, efficiency and mind-blowing gadgets.
