'Smart Sofa' Aimed at Couch Potatoes
From: CNN - 09/23/2003
By: Jeordan Legon

Researchers at Dublin's Trinity College are working on a "smart sofa" that
can so far only deliver personalized greetings to users via microchip sensors
that identify whoever sits down by weight; however, scientist Mads Haahr
believes the device will one day be able to automatically adjust room
lighting and temperature or turn on appliances such as stereos or TVs,
according to an individual's preferences. "The greater context is that you
can build functionality into computers that allow them to be part of everyday
objects and help us in ways that we won't even notice," Haahr explains. He
adds that the research team hopes the technology finds use in the care of the
handicapped and elderly. For instance, the smart sofa could conceivably alert
staff in assisted-living facilities when patients with Alzheimer's have
wandered off. The smart sofa is an extension of the move toward ubiquitous
computing, in which minuscule microprocessors are incorporated into numerous
objects and linked into networks. Finding a killer app to connect such
devices and enhance users' lives without being overly intrusive is a
formidable challenge. Ubiquitous computing researchers aim to migrate
technology out of PCs and into mobile devices. University of Colorado at
Boulder computer science professor Mike Mozer, who has equipped his house
with sensors to automatically adjust heating and lighting, says that
consumers need to perceive value in ubiquitous computing in order to ensure
its success. 

http://edition.cnn.com/2003/TECH/ptech/09/22/smart.sofa