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UF TODAY 17

For The Elderly, UF’sExperimental HouseIs A Smart Idea

Matilda isn’t your average able-bodied woman.

At 89 years old, she has trouble reading the small

type on soup can labels. When someone rings her

doorbell, the arthritis in her knees prevents her from

answering the door quickly. And when daylight

gives way to evening, making her way around her

house to turn on lights can be quite a chore.

By Aaron Hoover (MFAS ’02)

Helpful House

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SPRING 200418

William Mann, director of the center in which the smart house was develped, moves “Matilda” via remote control.

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Sumi Helal

While the obstacles of her daily life mirror thoseof millions of elderly people in the world, Matildahas one big advantage: She’s a motorized mannequinUF researchers are using as a prototype in a new“smart house” that could be the technologicalsolution to common problems facing today’s oldergeneration.

In this house, there’s no need to punch numberson the microwave: It automatically recognizes entréesand sets the right cooking time. If someone rings thedoorbell, the home beams the visitor’s picture towall-mounted screens in whatever room the residentis located. If residents have trouble walking to thedoor, no problem: They can open it remotely using a“smart” phone. In a house designed for those 85 orolder, the phone serves as the ultimate remotecontrol. By simply speaking into it, residents cancontrol the lights, stereo, television, and even openand close the curtains. And those are just a few of theways the home seeks to make the frailties that comewith aging more manageable.

But the researchers’ work is not yet complete.Matilda’s “house” has a cozy living room, bedroomand small kitchen, but is made of modular walls in acomputer laboratory on the fourth floor of thecomputer engineering building at UF. In the mock

“Engineers and scientists can

play an important role in

helping to do something about

the overburdened health and

nursing care systems, and

we’re working on the concepts

for how to achieve that

assistance here.” — Helal

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UF TODAY 19

home, the researchers test their technologicalsolutions to the burgeoning need for better elderly care.

“The federal government has recognized thatengineers and scientists can play an important role inhelping to do something about the overburdenedhealth and nursing care systems, and we’re workingon the concepts for how to achieve that assistancehere,” says Sumi Helal, a UF associate professor ofcomputer and information science and engineering, aswell as the technological brains behind the smart house.

In Florida and nationally, the research comes atan auspicious time. Florida has the highest numberof residents aged 65 or older of any state, with closeto 1.6 million of its population of nearly 16 millionpeople falling into that category. Floridians aged 85or older — those most in need of assistance — areprojected to almost double by 2020 when the statewill be home to almost 650,000 people that age, saystate and university demographers.

Nationally, the “age wave” of 78 million babyboomers is already putting pressure on the healthcare system as the first of the boomers reach their60s. In two decades, this wave will crest. Thedownside is the increased needs of the aging populationcome in an era of soaring health care costs leaving moreand more people without the means to pay.

User FriendlyWhen it comes to technology, the elderly

population is not the first group of users that springsto mind. From the XBox to ever-smaller digitalcameras to feature-filled personal digital assistants,most high technology consumer products are clearlydesigned for people nearer the other end of the agespectrum.

“All you have to do is look at the design of cellphones to see that,” says William Mann, director ofthe UF Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centeron Technology for Successful Aging, which in 2001won a $4.5 million federal grant for research on thesmart house and related initiatives.

But dozens of studies by Mann and others haveshown what may seem obvious: Despite the industrybias, the elderly embrace technology as enthusiasti-cally as any other group given the opportunity. Aparticipant in one of Mann’s studies, an elderlywoman who had been given a computer for atelehealth project that focused on maintainingindependence, told him, “I used to wake up everymorning and pray, ‘God, take me now,’ and now Iwake up every morning and tell God to give me moretime on the computer.”

By using technology to make aging easier, thesmart house seeks to go several steps beyond simplyputting computers in elderly people’s hands. In whatcould be an ironic twist, the effort and similarresearch may spur some of the biggest advances ininformation technology in coming decades, just ascatering to the desires of savvy young professionalshas done until now.

UF’s smart house provides a glimpse at what thoseadvances may be. Hidden behind one of the modularwalls is a nondescript gray box that contains itscentral computer. The box is the computingequivalent of a central air conditioning unit, out ofsight but delivering and coordinating the home’sseamless blend of “smart” services.

Sensors in the home communicate through thebox to keep track of the inhabitants’ whereabouts.That information is funneled to appliances such asTV sets and lamps. When the resident walks fromone room to another, the lights and TV “follow” theresident, turning on and tuning to the appropriatechannel. Residents navigate most of the home’s otherservices with a “smart” phone. The phone doubles asa home monitor: If sensors on the kitchen floordetect a water leak, the sensors report it to the centralcomputer, which “calls” the resident. If the residentwants to check the door and window locks, she canask the phone, which then reports back any opendoors or windows.

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Floridians aged 85 or older —

those most in need of assistance

— are projected to almost double

by 2020 when the state will be

home to almost 650,000 people

that age.

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SPRING 200420

The idea behind the centralized system is to makeit possible for the resident to add “smart” products— which Helal envisions as available at stores such asWal-Mart — simply by plugging them in to thecentral network.

“If you want a security system with a door andautomatic lock, that’s one piece. If you want a smartmicrowave, that’s another piece,” Helal says. “Ourmodel is zero engineers, zero configuration — it’syour basic plug and unplug.”

The mock house has clear benefits for the healthyelderly population, but Helal and Mann feel smarthome technology can do much more: It can alsoprovide care to those suffering from dementia orother cognitive impairments. For example, dementiapatients frequently forget what they are doing mid-task. By monitoring their activities, the smart housecan help remind them.

“Dehydration is a major problem with peoplewith dementia: They forget to drink,” says Mann,also the professor and chairman of the occupationaltherapy department in UF’s College of Public Healthand Health Professions. “The smart house couldprompt them. Or it can remind a resident to brushhis or her teeth in the bathroom.”

Coming Soon:The Real Deal

Equipped with cameras and sensors, a smart housenot only monitors a person’s activities, it also cantransmit that information outside the home. Thatopens the door to range of remote health care servicesnot practical today.

Falls are a frequent, sometimes deadly problem forelderly people living alone. Unless the person has a“Lifeline”-type emergency notification device or canreach the phone, he may lie unattended for hours ordays. With a properly equipped smart home, remotecaregivers could keep track not only of one home butmany, checking periodically to make sure residentswere still moving about.

The same could be true for more day-to-day care,Helal notes. Smart homes could not only promptresidents to take their daily pills, eat a balanced dietor get exercise, they could let caregivers know whenthese activities aren’t happening. If needed, caregiverscould actually look inside the house by viewingimages transmitted by cameras.

The possibilities suggest a new infrastructure forelderly care, Helal says. Whereas police and fireagencies and hospitals wind up with a disproportion-ate share of that burden today, the job could behandled in the future by utility companies. Just asmany utility companies offer online services today,people could sign up for a monthly “smart homeservice” by the click of a mouse.

As the age wave flows in, the cost savings could betremendous.

“You could have a smart [house] center staffed bya group of 50 or 100 trained workers monitoring thepeople in 1,000 houses,” Helal says. “The cost of thatoperation is much less than sending nurses on 1,000visits to those houses.”

Indeed, several studies have already documentedsavings tied to assistive devices or technology. One ofMann’s studies, for example, showed that a group ofseniors who had access to simple devices such as stairguides and shower benches both experienced lessdecline in their independence and spent fewer days inhospitals and nursing homes.

“We have found that if you give people the toolsthey need and the environment they need, it canhave a very, very significant impact on health-relatedcosts,” Mann says.

Certainly, there are major obstacles between thesmart house vision and reality. One obvious issue isprivacy. How many people would want an anony-

Smart homes could not only

prompt residents to take their

daily pills, eat a balanced diet or

get exercise, they could let

caregivers know when these

activities aren’t happening.

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UF TODAY 21

The possibilities suggest a new infrastructure for elderly care,

Helal says. Whereas police and fire agencies and hospitals

wind up with a disproportionate share of that burden today,

the job could be handled in the future by utility companies.

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mous person keeping track of virtually all theiractivities? Helal acknowledges that privacy is aconcern but notes that, for elderly people who needmajor care, sacrificing some privacy to remain in thehome may be worth it. “A truly frail elder person —she and her relatives will not be as concerned withBig Brother issues as other, healthier people,” he says.

He adds technology could be used to protectpeople’s privacy. Cameras could display a digitizedimage of a person rather than the real person movingaround a home, he says.

Another big challenge is to persuade technologycompanies to invest in smart home research andproducts. Mann and Helal evangelize their ideaswhenever possible. For example, at a recent interna-tional conference on aging and disability in Washing-ton, D.C., planned and hosted by the UF technologycenter, they met with cellular phone companies andpersonal emergency response companies to encouragethe two to collaborate. It only makes sense whensurveys show that many older people carry cellularphones solely for security purposes, Mann says.

Perhaps the biggest challenge is improving thetechnology to the point where it achieves its loftyambitions. To that end, the UF engineering rehabili-tation research center has just begun construction ona real smart house, to be located in Oak Hammock,UF’s retirement community in Gainesville. Thehome will have all the features of the mock home inthe lab and more, including LCD displays integratedinto walls and mirrors and numerous systems, such asa medication reminder system. The plan is forvolunteers to live in the house for periods of a fewdays or months to serve as test subjects for services.Three companies have donated $200,000 to helpbuild this prototype house: PRAXEIS, RDG ShutteWilscan Birge and The Weitz Co.

“It’s the construction companies that will take theconcept of the smart house into the mainstream, sowe want to use this model home to show them thepossibilities,” Helal says. “One of the end goals is towrite a reference book for the construction industryso they can modify house plans to easily turntraditional homes into smart houses.”u

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