Providing for Older Adults Using Smart Environment Technologies
From: Today's Engineer - 05/2007
By: Diane J. Cook

Smart environment technologies created from the integration of pervasive
computing, sensor networks, and artificial intelligence would be a major boon
to elderly people with mental or physical handicaps who wish to live
independently at home, writes Washington State University School of
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science professor Diane J. Cook. Software
that runs smart environments can employ data collected from sensors to
identify residents' actions and construct a model for daily living, making
deviations that could signify a health crisis easier to recognize and
rectify. An automated home and work environment affords a degree of control
for physically limited people that obviates the need for frequent caregiver
assistance, while cognitively impaired people can be automatically reminded
of tasks, routines, and directions to make their day-to-day living easier.
Augmenting the quality of life is another thing smart environments are
designed to do. One example is the environments' use of wireless sensors to
observe the social interactions of older adults, report those activities to
caregivers, and make suggestions to enhance a person's social life. Smart
environments are also useful to hospitals, for such things as making patients
and doctors safer and monitoring the progress of people following surgery.
"Much continued research is needed to make these technologies robust and
ready for widespread adoption," explains Cook. "Investigating these issues is
imperative if we want to adequately care for our aging population and provide
the best possible quality of life for them and, ultimately, for ourselves."  

Read the entire article at:
http://www.todaysengineer.org/2007/May/smart_homes.asp

Links:
Diane J. Cook
http://www.eecs.wsu.edu/~cook/

Smart Rooms, Smart Houses & Household Appliances/Applications
http://www.aaai.org/AITopics/html/rooms.html

Health Monitoring and Assistance to Support Aging in Place
http://www.jucs.org/jucs_12_1/health_monitoring_and_assistance