http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8495479.stm
"Smart-home" technology that allows people to control household
appliances via their mobile phone or other gadgets is being shown
off in Germany.
The EU-funded i2home project is aimed at giving greater independence
and freedom to older and disabled people.
It uses so-called "middleware" to allow heating, air conditioning,
lighting, and other gadgets to be controlled by a user's chosen
interface.
It is the result of research between EU industry, universities and
user groups.
"The users of the technology have been the driving force in the
project - all technical solutions are based on a thorough
investigation of the users' needs and desires," said project
coordinator, Jan Alexandersson.
The researchers worked with various groups in order to match the
technology to their needs, including Alzheimer's patients, blind and
partially-sighted people and young people with cognitive impairments.
The research has now officially come to an end. But the project
team, and some of the users, are still evaluating the work and
demonstrating how the technology can be used in the German town of
Saarbrücken.
The smart home technology uses a variety of interfaces
"Finally, something that works," said Ginger Classen, a blind,
German accessibility expert.
"If this technology is adopted by many manufacturers, I could
finally go appliance shopping like sighted people in a normal store,
having the choice to buy cool and stylish products."
This platform requires all appliances in the home to be networked
together.
The middleware sits between the home appliances and a controlling
device, such as a mobile phone, and allows them to communicate.
i2home has also created a variety of interfaces for control devices.
So far the group has tested touch screens, mobile phones running the
Windows Mobile and Android platforms, speech input and output
devices and an ordinary domestic TV set with a simplified remote
control to run the UCH.
The researches say that i2home demonstrates that technology - that
has traditionally been regarded as too complex for many mainstream
users - can be made usable and enjoyable for older and disabled
people.
In addition, because the middleware has been built to open
standards, it means that anyone can use the underlying code to build
their own user interface for a device to control networked appliances.
By the start of 2010, there were more already than 100 organisations
and companies in Europe using or working with i2home technology,
according to Mr Alexandersson.
Ciaran Ferry
Web & e-Services, ESB ICT Group, 27 Lwr Fitzwilliam St, Dublin 2,
Ireland.
Tel: +353-1-70(27945) EMail: Ciaran.Ferry@xxxxxx Web: http://www.esb.ie
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