Homes smart enough to talk

The University of Bath has showcased a ‘smart’ home for people with dementia at the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council’s Pioneers 09 exhibition.

The ‘smart’ homes are designed to closely monitor residents’ movements and actions, allowing them to live more independently.

The system has voice prompts that can be set up by family members and others with familiar voices to remind people living with dementia to turn off lights, taps, cookers and other appliances.

Professor Roger Orpwood, director of the Bath Institute of Medical Engineering, told E-Health Insider: “We began by looking at dangerous behaviours that people with dementia display.

“We found that by having a familiar person telling them what was right and wrong in a recognisable way, there was a big impact on their actions.”

The homes also have safety solutions which detect, for example, excessive smoke from a hob or overflowing water in a sink. The system may also be developed to call or send text messages to family members if the person gets up during the night or goes outside.

Two trial systems have been installed in care homes in London and the West Country and have been operating successfully over the past year.

Professor Orpwood added: “The key is to focus on enabling people, not on taking decisions away from them.

"Eventually we will be able to tailor each ‘smart’ home to each individual, depending on their needs, and apply it to every level of problem. The next step is to put the systems in people’s own homes and to evaluate it there.”

The ‘smart’ homes were just one of the projects funded by EPSRC on display at the Pioneers 09 showcase at London’s Olympia.

The showcase also featured information agents developed by the ALADDIN programme, which is made up of four universities and BAE Systems. The agents are pieces of software that can acquire and process real-time information collected from sensor networks and help with decision making.

The developers argue this could be useful in emergency situations. For example, they could be used to give emergency services information about the layout of a building or help them to co-ordinate their activities. Dr Alex Rogers from Southampton University said they were close to having an operational tool.