Responding to COVID-19: The future of intelligent homes

In the final of The Institution of Engineering and Technology’s (IET) series on Healthy Living and Housing, our focus was on the future of intelligent homes. You can access the session by clicking here and registering to watch on demand.

For this session, I was pleased to be joined by:

• Dr Chris McGinley, Senior Research Fellow, Leader Age & Diversity Research Space, Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design, Royal College of Art; and,
• Dr Ozak Esu, Smart Assets Lead and part of the Construction Innovation Hub, Building Research Establishment (BRE)

Homes, health, and inclusive design

Chris outlined the role of the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design. It is a centre for inclusive design covering two main research themes, Age and Diversity, and Healthcare. They work across a number of design areas including strategic, visual, artefact, and the built environment and public spaces.

His presentation included two short videos. The first was of an older woman trying to navigate the use of multiple remote controls to watch TV. On the second, the same woman was using a remote control ‘station’ that clearly laid out what buttons were to be pressed in what order. In the first the woman was clearly frustrated, in the second has was happy. For Chris, this points to the need to ensure design is fit for user requirements.

A key to inclusive design is how the challenge is thought about and an understanding of the context. This understanding is developed though user engagement to both identify the problem and identify solutions. He used the example of one project in designing a Care home.

The first question put to residents was: what does home mean? The idea of home included things such as security, sociability, choice and control. The second question was what does care mean. It was no longer about providing security, sociability and so on, but seen as the opposite. The report, Design for Dementia, was one of the outcomes.  What is clear is that the design of environments directly impacts on people’s ability to care for themselves, and their dependency on staff. And design can mean anything from the colour of plates and cutlery, to the design of rooms, to the building as a whole.

So how do we fit technology into this picture? In one survey about a quarter felt that technology had a significant role to play in directly supporting care, though the vast majority still wanted a person as part of that care.

Chris talked about PARO, the seal, a therapeutic robot to give the benefit of animal therapy through sensory support. PARO is often used in dementia care. It was also mentioned in the fourth webinar in this series. While the seal is not widely used in the UK, Chris stressed the importance of understanding context, for instance in other cultures where the use of such technologies is more readily accepted.

Critical to the development of inclusive design is to create space for ‘co-authoring’ and ‘co-creation’. This means moving away from the idea that the designer or the engineer is the expert, and to acknowledge that individuals are the experts of their own lived experience.

A project being worked on at present is CommunitTree, in partnership with the housing and care provider, The Guinness Partnership. This involved connecting with residents and communities, going into different homes, different estates, that were having different issues. The key challenges identified were:

• the desire for stronger community;
• the importance of resident visibility;
• a sense of ownership; and,
• a sense of being heard.

Given the amount of work that had already been undertaken, it was possible to continue despite COVID-19 using other means such as email and social media. The project included the development of a communal noticeboard to encourage people to meet and encourage chains of communication. It was also to support the independent living advisers in bridging Guinness and the residents. If anything, the project accelerated with COVID-19. They brought in a technology provider, appello, to see how the project could also work remotely.

Chris pointed to the importance of being responsive to the dramatic change in demographics towards an ageing population by:

• bridging the gap between discovery and delivery in the innovation lifecycle;
• switching from medical products at a point of crisis to aspirational design for healthy ageing; and,
• creating better links between emerging technologies and the needs of older people.

To support this approach, the Design Age Institute has recently been launched.

The built environment and future of intelligent homes

Ozak began by outlining the role of the Construction Innovation Hub. The role of the Hub is to transform the UK construction sector through manufacturing technologies and digital ways of working, with a focus on how we define value, manufacturing, assurance, and digital.

Ozak pointed to demographics indicating that by 2040, 1 in 7 people in the UK will be 75+ years. This underpins a real need for improvements including:

• a shift in approach from the housing sector from a focus on controlling costs and transferring risk, to one that targets performance and whole life costs. The Construction Innovation Hub are developing a toolkit that looks at value from the perspective of natural, social, human, manufactured, and financial capital;
• a holistic, collaborative, and co-ordinated approach between sectors i.e. housing and health. For example, BRE have been part of a joint project that has developed a dementia friendly demonstration home; and,
• the implementation of smart technologies with robust data management strategies and response systems.  Key areas that need further examination include inclusivity, adaptability, transferability, and connectivity.

Ozak highlighted the work of the Smart Assets Team in BRE. The team aim to demonstrate the value of integrating the Internet of Things (IoT) into Building Information Modelling (BIM) and digital twins, to inform the whole lifecycle of built assets and support a secure data-driven approach to decision making. BRE have developed a Smart Assets Roadmap. Necessary here is the need to identify required sensors and technologies from the outset and to ensure these technologies are fit for purpose. Ozak stressed the need for standardised templates for sensors and other technologies.

BRE are also examining IoT use cases. The example Ozak gave was the work BRE are doing on indoor air quality. This is mapped across various building environment standards including BREEAM, Fitwell, and LEED. They are also testing a range of IoT sensors – the focus is to have reliable and robust data.

In looking at the future of Intelligent homes and buildings, Ozak made the following points –

• that by focusing on value and whole-life performance, shared goals like better quality of life, longevity, independence, social cohesion and community can be achieved;
• through collaboration, homes have great potential as places of healthcare. This could reduce demand on health and care services, but will require homes that support new technologies and are safe, accessible and adaptable; and
• that as working from home is likely to become increasingly common in the future, particularly among older people, and as with care in the home, this can be supported by suitable design and enabling access to necessary technologies, such as high-speed broadband.

Ultimately, inclusivity needs to be a priority with any solutions developed.

Key discussion points

How do we upgrade technologies as building designs and uses change over time?

• There are existing issues with upgrading technologies. BRE are examining adaptability and transferability to respond to changes to asset use, how to adapt when IoT devices are no longer supported, and how to best incorporate emerging IoT devices.
• Those working in the sector need to consider some of the risks associated with technologies that may become redundant. Upgrading can be an ongoing cost with the adoption of IoT devices.
• Designers need to consider technology users, as well as adaptability and modularity more specifically – people centred design is part of this process.

How do we ensure diversity within design?

• There’s a requirement to seek out those people who will be the end-users of design. An important question to ask is who is missing from the design process and why i.e. such as people with lived experience taking on key roles.
• There are numerous opportunities in the built environment, and inclusive design is critical including understanding what people want from buildings. There is a growing demand for this and is a real opportunity.

How can we make better use of tech to reduce loneliness and social isolation?

• The potential is significant and this has become apparent with the impact of COVID-19. What has become clear over the last year is that we have adapted to different ways of communicating. However, we must also recognise the millions of people who still lack access to the internet, whether by choice or circumstance. This is an ongoing challenge. People must then then be given a choice as to whether or not to access it.
• If we want technologies including those in the built environment to be effective, they have to have human elements to them in supporting human connections.
• This period has in some ways made forums such as these webinars more accessible without the need for travel, and without the need to be in one location to access information, knowledge, and conversations.

In thinking about the future of intelligent homes, how do we better connect people and technology through design?

• Important to look at both social and technical aspects. One way to do this would be through the development of use cases for IoT and for the built environment.
• Also important to consider cybersecurity and privacy. There’s still a real need for the development of standards, including the development of follow-up plans if things go wrong.

As part of The IET’s series on Responding to COVID-19: Healthy Living and the home

1. Healthy living and housing
2. Community care and care homes
3. Monitoring vulnerable patients and remote diagnostics
4. Reducing social isolation and loneliness
5. Smart home tech to support people’s needs
6. The future of Intelligent homes to support health

*Winner of the age positive design competition by Centre for Ageing Better. Image by SwaG Design. You can read more about the competition here.