Web Posted on: August 24, 1998

Assisted Interactive Dwelling HOUSE

Edinvar Housing Association Smart Technology Demonstrator and Evaluation Site.

Steve Bonner - Development Co-ordinator (New Technology)
Edinvar Housing Association.
Wellgate House.
200, Cowgate, Edinburgh. EH1 1NQ.
Telephone: +44 131 243 2051 Fax: +44 131 225 4400
e-mail: stevebonner@edinvar.co.uk

1. Summary

Edinvar Housing Association have sought to build or refurbish its housing stock to a 'barrier-free' standard. - That being homes which are equally usable by able-bodied, elderly or disabled tenants, and requiring a minimum of modification for those with specific special needs.

Edinvar has now chosen to advance the concept of barrier-free design still further by exploring the use of 'smart' technology in homes, and is testing these technologies at a demonstrator site at St.Leonards, Edinburgh as part of a 2 year project.

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2. Introduction - Development of a Smart Home for Everyone

The use of technological aids and 'gadgets' is still very much seen as the domain of the owner-occupier on a high income. The introduction of automation into a home is sold on the basis of enhancing security, energy saving and even simply as 'big toys for big boys'. There are devices that have undoubted use and appeal to both the able-bodied and disabled householder. Edinvar is exploring the possibility of utilising some of these devices, with a view to:

• Improving the quality of life of residents who have access to these technologies,
• reducing the need for long-term hospitalisation/institutional care for those, who with assistance (human and technological) could be in their own homes,
• replicating the findings of the demonstrator site in other Edinvar tenancies,
• broadening the interest in smart technologies to remove their 'niche' appeal.

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3. The Disappointment of a Smart Home with Little to See.

In real terms, dwellings that would be of benefit to the frail elderly, disabled, those with learning difficulties, or even those with dementia need not be that 'smart'.

If aids and enhancements are fitted correctly, there should be little indication to the casual observer that the home is any different to a normal dwelling.
For occupants, as well as overcoming physical hurdles, we must also overcome psychological barriers too. - A home laden with gadgets, operated via a brace of infra-red or radio remote controls would be a sure-fire method of ensuring that none of the 'aids' were actually used.

Wherever possible equipment should be integrated to blend in not just with the physical environment of the home, but also take account of individual needs of the end users. This includes not being scared half to death by complicated controls or forbidding looking 'black boxes'.

Ultimately, this means that if an installation is to be successful, the visitor to a smart home should be slightly disappointed by what he/she finds there. - An adapted home need not be all 'Bells and Whistles' to allow a person to maintain a good quality of life in their own home.

The Edinvar demonstrator flat reflects this simplicity in that, whilst it has numerous mechanisms that operate windows, curtains and doors, a video entry-phone system, and at the heart of the dwelling, an EIB 'Instabus' installation, on the surface, the home looks little different to any other.

Some would consider the subtle approach to be a little disappointing when first encountered, but rather they are disappointed than daunted!

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4. Occupant Controlling a 'Smart' Home or the Home Controlling the Occupant?

The key to the smart label that such housing is given has less to do with how much equipment is installed, but rather how it interacts with the occupants, and how it aids them. A system that monitors activity and automatically alerts carers to emergency situations may be all that is required for a frail elderly or demented person, whereas a severely disabled person may require operation of numerous devices in the home, either automatically or via a touchscreen, touchpad or similar interface.

Edinvar has taken for the most part existing technology, some from the commercial sector or even the leisure industry, and interfaced it to an EIB system. This will allow the equipment to operate independently of a persons actions (automatically), as a result of a persons actions (re-actively) or purely at the behest of the user (manually). Table 1 gives a better indication of some of the likely scenarios of these levels of operation.

Table 1

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5. Health and Activity Monitoring

As well as assisting occupants with tasks such as opening doors, windows and curtains, the equipment Edinvar has installed in their demonstrator flat will help in tracking an occupants movements and identifying potential emergency situations.

To avoid the ethical dilemma of spying on tenants, the monitoring that is involved is extremely non-intrusive. The system will monitor and flag up an alarm for a number of activities including:

• Toilet flush,
• activation of a bedside pressure pad,
• opening/closing of curtains,
• activation of Passive Infra-Red (PIR) detectors,
• activation of a Smoke/Heat detector,
• activation of emergency pullcord or similar device (e.g. pendant personal alarm).

In this particular case, the information collected from these 'activities' will be communicated to an on-site Resource Centre that is staffed 24 hours a day. The system will also provide the potential for an audio link and/or video link with the occupant, if it is felt that such a connection is appropriate. (It must be emphasised that this monitoring will be of a passive nature, only used in emergency situations, and levels of monitoring will be agreed with end-users and their carers).

In other situations, there is every possibility that the monitoring connection with care staff or wardens could be for an end-user who lives in a far more remote location, potentially many miles from the base of operations of the care facility. This would allow those persons living in rural areas a degree of support and peace of mind they may not otherwise have.

Of course, Edinvar does not see the use of such technology as either a 'Big Brother' secnario, or as a means of replacing the personal care component, but as a means of safeguarding the person-centred, rather than problem-centered approach to caring.

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6. Evaluation of AID HOUSE.

Over the past few months, Edinvar has been installing equipment and interfacing it to the EIB system. Initial development of the project identified potential equipment, and now that it is installed, we need to establish the relative merits of that equipment.

In order to do this Edinvar will invite comment from potential end-users and their carers, specifiers, other housing and care organisations, architects, builders and equipment manufacturers.

Practical use of the equipment will be undertaken by inviting end-users and their carers to make use of the dwellings facilities through:

• Day-visits,
• weekend 'stop-overs',
• long term stays (1 week or more).

To allow a realistic assessment of the project, the dwelling has been fully furnished. In the instances where end-users have specific needs (lifting aids, modified furniture etc.) this would be made available too, but careful consideration would have to be given to how the addition of this equipment would impede the operation of, or slant the perception of the worth of the 'core' devices currently installed.

Evaluation is to be made by a combination of questionnaire and informal interview with the end-users. Such feedback would be used to assess not just the worth of any devices installed, but would also be used to 'fine tune' the operation (programming) of any equipment for users with specific needs.

The installation procedure for the demonstration site has thrown up a few interesting problems as regards retro-fitting equipment. This too will be recorded, and presented in the form of both a revised building design specification for future developments and as a 'Procedures Manual' outlining problems and possible solutions. Information will cover issues such as rewiring of mains supply circuits, modification to doors and windows, and system integration.

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7. Beyond The AID HOUSE Project

As well as proving the technology, Edinvar's justification for undertaking this project is the potential for replication elsewhere. Edinvar intends to take some of the equipment it is using in the AID HOUSE Project, and undertake installations in some of its 1,500 other tenancies.

It is doubtful that all of the devices would again be used in one tenancy, after all, the AID HOUSE is purely a demonstration site. Edinvar could envisage using one or two pieces of equipment in one tenancy, and perhaps differing equipment in another. The utilisation of a 'modular' approach to installation would help to allow further equipment to be installed, if for instance a tenants condition deteriorated, or if a more acutely disabled tenant moved into the same dwelling.

Perhaps the exception to this 'menu driven' approach would be the utilisation of equipment that could monitor health and activity of an occupant. It is being considered that such devices would be a natural enhancement to commonly used emergency pull-cord alarms, as found in many sheltered or supported dwellings, or even as an extension to an existing burglar alarm. It is very likely that the fitting of devices to monitor an occupants movement and (perceived) health will become the rule rather than the exception, but with the emphasis being on control by, rather than control of, the end-user.

Footnote:

Copies of the Edinvar AID HOUSE initial briefing paper are now available. Copies can be obtained from Edinvar Housing Association directly.

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