Smart Home 1

8/2/2019 Smart Home 1

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Progression Towards theIntelligent Home


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Progression Towards the Intelligent Home Smart home an intelligent

home that would provide fullyautomated 21st century living,with multifunctional robots

Automation has successfullyconquered industry and workingenvironments

Leisure time, domestic tasks andhousehold management haveremained untouched


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Progression Towards the Intelligent Home Adoption of electrical domestic appliances follow the

process of commoditisation

New appliances expensive, unreliable and bought bythe wealthy

the richer a person is, the more he is willing to pay forless benefit. Therefore, it is to be expected that the

rich will be the early adopters of new technologynew

technology can be used to buy more free time.

Lynne HamillThe Introduction of New Technology into the Household,

Digital World Research Centre, University of Surrey, UK (2000)


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Progression Towards the Intelligent Home Technological improvements, reductions in the cost of

manufacture and competition all help to reduce the cost

Once the market for the rich has been saturated, profitmargins will be cut or cheaper products will be produced forthe mass-market

Electric washing machine

Introduced by the Hurley Machine Company,Chicago in 1907 (model shown left c. 1925)

Early models were unreliable and expensive

Easy to sell as they eliminated or replacedhousehold chores

Price of automated washing machinesfinally dropped in the 1960s, helpedby the introduction of Seeburg timers


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Progression Towards the Intelligent Home Introduction of electrical domestic appliances

did not reduce labour, only drudgery

1950s woman could complete all thehousework that a housewife and severalservants would have completed a decade before

Visions of a house of tomorrow: luxurious 21st

century living where housewives are finally relieved of theirdomestic duties

Vision of fully automated home and multifunctionaldomestic robot has largely remained untouched


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Progression Towards the Intelligent Home Broadband communications: 50% of people

in European households using broadbandby 2005 (IDC)

Electroluxs Screenfridge:

Household members communicate viavideo-mail or email

Users can surf the web

Food management: recipes, how to handlefoods, food storage

TV, radio and connections for surveillancecameras

Digital cookbook


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Progression Towards the Intelligent Home LGs Internet Washing

Machine Combines white goods with

information andcommunications in response

to the increasing popularityof home network products

Download washing cyclesfrom the Turbodrum

website


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Progression Towards the Intelligent Home Role of convergence

"In information technology, convergence is a term for thecombining of personal computers, telecommunication, and

television into a user experience that is accessible toeveryone

www.whatis.com

Every decade has a word that defines it. In the 80s it wasthe PC. In the 90s it was the internet. This decade the key

word is convergence

Steve Case, AOL Time Warner


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Progression Towards the Intelligent Home General public need to be convinced of benefits of buying

multifunctional devices

Talking with your family through the refrigerator? That justsounds creepy. I suppose people will have to stop using thefridge while talking to their familyPeople will have to enter

information about food and expiry dates manuallyIsn'ttechnology supposed to make our lives easier?

Madhu Menon, Internet consultant

Compromise in design designers need to successfullyintegrate two or more devices with restricteddimensions at a reasonable price

Jack of all trades, master of none?


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Progression Towards the Intelligent Home Uniform view that the home will be intelligent, connected

and wireless although the way this will be achieved, andhow the home will be networked, differs drastically

Television-centric:

Used for entertainment,

email, online shoppingand as the main interface

Regarded as a communaldevice, clashes over usage

Difficult to upgrade

PC-centric:

Problems of stability:consumer level PCs proneto crashing, potentiallybringing down the entire network


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Progression Towards the Intelligent Home Post PC world

Personal computing moving from the PC into arange of devices

Wearable PCs

Smart computing: single board interfaces willuse a PC processors power, reducing size andcost

Change in interface from WIMP (Windows,Icons, Mouse and Pull-down menus) to speechand, eventually, physical gestures

If technology is to be more accepted in the home, itmust change to better suit this environment. A

number of researchers have argued that thischange will take the form of a post PC world.

A.T. Brown, Hewlett Packard Labs, Bristol, UK


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Progression Towards the Intelligent Home Manufacturers need to convince consumers to

embrace the Intelligent home

Sceptics claim manufacturers have lost touch withthe consumers need and appliance design is

being driven by what is technologically possible

The resulting products are complicated to use andintimidate consumers who dont understand their

function


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Progression Towards the Intelligent Home

Technology offers the potential to make life easier and moreenjoyable; each new technology provides increased

benefits. At the same time added complexities arise toincrease our difficulty and frustration.

Donald A. Norman, The Design of Everyday Things

Human beings are visually oriented, hands on and curious bynature. We may want to keep tangible interfaces to the realworld and retain at least the impression that we know what

is going on.

Ian Pearson, BT Futurologist


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Progression Towards the Intelligent Home The house of the future has engineered confines, presuming

a digital lifestyle

With the notable exception of the television, which isprofoundly home grown, most new domestic technologiesembody notions of efficiency designed to deliver better

time and resource management

Genevieve Bell, Intel Corporation, and Joseph Kaye, MIT Media Lab

Designing Technology for Domestic Spaces: A Kitchen Manifesto

The kitchen is a social hub with a distinct culturalhistory that is to be understood before imposingtechnology on its inhabitants


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Progression Towards the Intelligent Home The development of an intelligent

home is not restricted to aconnected, automated domesticenvironment

Philips Ambient project (right)

Ambient Intelligence as being an exciting new paradigm ininformation technology, in which people are empoweredthrough a digital environment that is aware of theirpresence and context, and is sensitive, adaptive, and

responsive to their needs, habits, gestures andemotions, merging the concepts of ubiquitouscomputing" and "social user interfaces to improvethe quality of life


16/22

Progression Towards the Intelligent Home The project aims to create a

future homeresembling the house of the pastanderadicating all the black boxes

thatfeature in our homes today

Example of contents:

Bathroom mirror (right): reflects yourimage, the news or weather

Nebula: an interactive projectordetermined by movement

Audio system: trigger a song byhumming the tune


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Progression Towards the Intelligent Home"Technology in our homes will evolve to the point that it we

don't have to 'work' to experience it. Rather, it willunderstand us and react to our needs, making our lives

easier."

"In a true Ambient Intelligenceenvironment, all electronic featuresand functions are integrated into

people's backgrounds."

Spokesman for Philips


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Progression Towards the Intelligent Home Aware home, Georgia Tech

The Aware Home venture is concernedwith addressing the fundamentaltechnical, design, and social challengesof the creation of a home environment

that is aware of its occupants and theiractivities

The home is a network of sensors and computers monitoringthe movements and actions of the household members

It contains a vast array of gadgets, designed toenhance the quality of life, with special emphasison the elderly


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Progression Towards the Intelligent Home Example of contents:

Digital family portrait (right):reconnects geographically distantextended family members.

Designed to resemble a portrait,the border changes daily reflectingthe persons life, providing peace of

mind for family members

Gesture Pendant: a necklace with asmall camera inside that allows the user to control devices

within their environment through gestures

What am I cooking? (next): vision sensors captureinformation and displays them as visual cues


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Progression Towards the Intelligent Home"It's not enough just to solve these problems in the abstract. To

really understand the problems and challenges of ubiquitouscomputing, you have to build actual environments. You have totake [aware technology]and apply it to the bodythe home."

Dr. Gregory Abowd, Aware Home project leader


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Progression Towards the Intelligent Home Domestic Robots:

Assistance for the disabled Entertainment - Sonys AIBO that

can learn through experience, as wellas read emails and take photographswith its onboard camera)

Household maintenance - Dyson(DC06 still on home trial - below),Electrolux (Trilobite- below), iRobot(Roomba- below) and Probotics(Cye- next)


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Progression Towards the Intelligent Home Challenges:

household environment is a complexmass of wires (resolved by wirelessnetwork), confined spaces and unevenfloors

Uncontrolled environment with humansinteracting in the space

A safe, powerful, portable power supplyis needed

Robots with AI or other behaviouralcomplexities still have technicaldifficulties

Economic concerns mean that design,functionality and materials can becompromised

Documents

Smart Home 1