'Smart houses' to take care of elderly

LONDON - People could in future live in "smart homes" that will tell them when to wake up or remind them to lock the back door, a British scientist predicts.

The "caring home" - particularly useful to the elderly or infirm - would be equipped with electronic sensors connected to a computer that will remind people to take their medicine or turn off the oven.

Professor Heinz Wolff, a bio-engineer at Brunel University near London, told the annual British Association for the Advancement of Science conference that the first pilot home could be ready at the university by the autumn.

"It is a computer-aided system, with about 30 sensors, that can talk and negotiate with the tenant," he said.

It could also work out if they were going to harm themselves.

The smart home would allow the elderly to live longer independently in their own homes.

- REUTERS