First the smart phone, now the smart home

We have all heard of the smartphone and any day now, most of us will have one. Not far behind: the smart home. Writing in the latest issue of the journal Science, Washington State University's Diane Cook says it won't be long before our homes act as "intelligent agents" that use sensors and software to anticipate our needs and tend to tasks that improve our health, energy efficiency, even social media.

Many homes are already halfway there, with computer chips helping microwave popcorn, record TV shows, and turn on coffee makers and thermostats. "If you have a programmable thermostat, you have the beginnings of a smart home," says Cook, a WSU professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. "What we're trying to do is get the home to take over the job of programming it."

"We want your home as a whole to think about what you need and use the components in it to do the right thing," she says.

Cook has been applying artificial intelligence in test homes since coming to WSU in 2006. Sites around the Northwest, including 18 apartments in Seattle, already show that the technology can help monitor aging-in-place elderly residents and alert caregivers if they are not completing ordinary activities like rising, eating, bathing, and taking medications.

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http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-03/wsu-fts032712.php