New Smart Home

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17724-smart-home-knows-just-how-you-like-your-breakfast.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news

Humans are creatures of habit, as a sensor-stuffed apartment at Washington State University in Pullman knows. The smart home can learn the ways of its inhabitants simply by observing how they walk around and use different appliances.

The technology could be used in houses to support people with cognitive difficulties or dementia with their daily living needs, or to make things easier for healthy people.

The apartment can, for example, recognise when a person is performing actions associated with making breakfast. If the person absent-mindedly leaves a stove burner on, the system can spot the anomaly and prompt them with audio and video signals to return to the ho