Future NZ: What was your home thinking?

We're all used to automatic security lights that switch on when we come home and washing machines that choose the best programme for their loads. But in the coming decades our homes will become really smart. They will have ambient intelligence - the ability to understand what we intend to do.

Ambient intelligence describes pervasive computer systems that run programmes inspired by artificial intelligence. Researchers are developing systems that observe the inhabitants of smart homes in unobtrusive ways through sensors that then interpret the data produced to recognise behaviours.

Video cameras are considered too intrusive by many people so simple sensors such as motion sensors, power sensors registering the use of appliances, or contact switches on cupboard doors are becoming the preferred options. These sensors produce a continuous stream of data that can be fed into a computer programme that uses methods from artificial intelligence and machine learning to find out what is happening in the house. Once the smart home knows what's going on, it can take appropriate actions to provide support, reassurance, assistance, or comfort to the inhabitant.

But how are we going to communicate with our smart homes? We are already beyond the point of purely communicating on a person-to-person basis. Our lives have become highly connected through a variety of devices and communication media. Receiving a message on a smart phone and then posting it on Facebook so that others can download it onto their PC is not something that raises eyebrows anymore. Taking this to the next level means incorporating non-human entities into our communication networks - creating the so-called internet-of-things.

In the future our houses will be able to adjust to our needs and provide comfort for whatever activity we are engaged in. For example, if you sat down in the lounge in the late afternoon with the television switched on, it would know you were watching the latest episode of your favourite television show, and since this would take an hour, it would increase the temperature in the room to be more appropriate for this activity.

The house would also track seasons and sunsets so, if there was a chance of sun glare on your screen, it would lower the blinds. If you wanted to work on your shopping list for tomorrow at the same time, it would check the contents of your fridge and display the items that needed replacing alongside your programme on your television screen.

All the research and technical innovation needed to make this happen is being driven by a simple demographic truth. Most developed countries, including New Zealand, have ageing populations and this is what will make smart homes a reality. Life expectancy is now higher than ever before, and so is the expectation that people will live high-quality, independent lifestyles in old age.

Hans Guesgen.

Today if you came home and your living room was cold and dark, you might wonder what was wrong with your heat pump, or whether another light bulb had blown. In the future you might ask what your home was thinking.

Hans Guesgen is a Professor of Computer Science in Massey University's School of Engineering and Advanced Technology.