K. Miesenberger et al. (Eds.): ICCHP 2006, LNCS 4061, pp. 457 – 460, 2006. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2006

People with Disabilities: Assistive Homes and Environments

Introduction to the Special Thematic Session

Gerhard Nussbaum

Kompetenznetzwerk Informationstechnologie zur Förderung der Integration von Menschen mit Behinderungen (KI-I), Hauptstraße 119, 4232 Hagenberg i.M., Austria

Gerhard.Nussbaum@ki-i.at http://www.ki-i.at

Abstract. Assistive Homes and Environments are a category of Smart Homes and Environments and are an approach to independent living. All important devices are linked together and allow their integrated control by an accessible user interface. These environments have the ability to compensate some of the occupant’s disabilities and therefore enhance the occupant’s independence. This special thematic session deals with Assistive Homes and Environments and related developments and research. The topics reach from “Smart and Assistive Homes” over “Control of ICT devices by eye gaze” to “Health monitoring systems for elderly and disabled people”.

1 Introduction

Nowadays the technological revolution moves more and more into our direct environment. Houses, environments and things of the daily living are getting smarter and smarter. Ambient, pervasive and ubiquitous computing are concepts and often heard words in science. “Everything gets smart” is one of the slogans of ubiquitous computing..

In [1] Mark Weiser, the pioneer of pervasive computing envisioned “a physical world that is richly and invisibly interwoven with sensors, actuators, displays, and computational elements, embedded seamlessly in the everyday objects of our lives, and connected through a continuous network.” This vision is a basic concept of Smart Environments.

Smart houses, homes and environments are nowadays no longer science fiction. Several smart houses already exist in different countries all over the world as research objects and the idea of Smart Houses is becoming more and more common. There are several definitions and descriptions of Smart Homes and Environments and some are as follows:

“A small world where all kinds of smart devices are continuously working to make inhabitants' lives more comfortable" is the description of Smart Environments in [2].

“A ‘smart house’ is one whose subsystems, such as security, lighting, entertainment, heating, cooling and communications, work together enhancing each other’s capabilities. A smart house uses computers to help its occupant’s live healthy,

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happy and safe lives by performing many tasks automatically to help manage the household.” is the description of a Smart House in [3].

“A smart home or building is a home or building, usually a new one that is equipped with special structured wiring to enable occupants to remotely control or program an array of automated home electronic devices by entering a single command.” is the description of a Smart Home in [4] (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1. Schematic and functional depiction of a Smart Environment [5]

One aim of smart houses is to enhance the comfort of the occupant. The occupant e.g. can control his house and all devices like consumer electronics, domestic appliances and other electric devices from his couch. He can check if the washing machine has finished its programme [6], he can turn on the oven [6], he can open or close all blinds of the house with just a finger tip [7], he can control the air condition [6], he can activate a special light scenario for a romantic mood [7] and while he is watching TV the automatic vacuum cleaner is cleaning the room [8]. These are only some examples which can be realised with off-the-shelf home automation systems and domestic appliances. Smart houses have much more functionalities and features.

2 Assistive Homes and Environments

All this comfort can be an essential benefit for occupants with disabilities. Such equipped environments have the ability to compensate some disabilities of the occupant [9]. It can simplify their daily lives and reduce the dependency on other persons. They can use all the provided functionality of the environment by themselves, reinforce their independence and personal freedom and can therefore longer remain in their usual surroundings. The environment itself can become assistive if the user interface is accessible to the occupant with disabilities.

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Unfortunately such smart homes are currently far too expensive for persons living in social housing. Unlike in smart homes the features and functionalities are limited to the ones the occupant with disabilities benefits from which makes the realisation cheaper.

In [10] assistive homes are defined as follows: “The Assistive Home is an environment in which ‘all’ electrical items and important appliances are linked together and which allows the user the integrated control of them. Besides the user interfaces of the items and appliances there is also a central control centre with an accessible user interface based on standard HCI components.” (Fig. 2) To control the Assistive Environment off-the-shelf environmental control devices like FST James 2000 [11], SiCare devices [12], Gewa Prog 3 [13], etc. also can only be used with limitations: these devices only support unidirectional communication. They cannot receive state events and states from devices and present them to the user.

Not linkable devices like consumer electronic devices, telephones, etc. can be controlled directly via IR commands by the control centre or environmental control device.

Fig. 2. Schematic and functional depiction of an Assistive Home [10]

To enhance the security of occupants with disabilities systems like fall and motion detectors, health monitoring, fire and smoke detectors, etc. also can be included if it is required. Some of these systems – especially health monitoring and eHealth applications – are topic of current research and development.

3 Conclusion

Assistive Homes and Environments can extend disabled occupant’s independence and personal freedom and therefore improve their quality of life. Such environments are no longer science fiction.

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This special thematic session takes a look at current research and development in the area of Assistive Homes, Smart Homes, Health Monitoring, Communication Devices, ICT device control by eye gaze, etc. Aim of this session is to exchange knowledge and experiences and to push forward the research and development related to Assistive Homes and Environments.

References

1. Weiser, M.: The Computer for the 21st century. Scientific American, Vol. 265, September 1991, p. 66-75

2. Cook, D., Das, S.: Smart Environments: Technology, Protocols and Application. Wiley-Interscience, November 2004

3. Frost, T.F.: The Everyday Life of a Household in Cyberspace. Open Session / Workshop “Quality of life facing the 21st century - How standards will help”, 1999, Beijing, China, ISO, http://www.iso.org/iso/en/commcentre/presentations/ga/ gaopen/1999/ga1999-03.pdf

4. Redriksson, V.: Smart Home or Building. A Whatis Definition. http://whatis.techtarget.com. 2001

5. Aebischer, B., Huser, A.: Vernetzung im Haushalt – Auswirkungen auf den Stromverbrauch. Swiss Federal Office of Energy. November 2000

6. Siemens: serve@home. http://www.servehome.com/ 7. Konnex Association: Mir ging sofort ein Licht auf: EIB/KNX ist intelligente

Systemtechnik für Wohnkomfort, Sicherheit und Wirtschaftlichkeit. Konnex Brochure, 2004

8. Electrolux: Trilobite 2.0. http://www.electrolux.at/node142.asp 9. Dewsbury, G.A., Edge, H.M.: Designing the Home to meet the Needs of Tomorrow …

Today: Smart technology, health and well-being. Open House International, Vol26, No2, pp33-42. 2001

10. Nussbaum, G., Miesenberger, K.: The Assistive Home – More than Just Another Approach to Independent Living?. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Volume 3118, Jan 2004, Springer-Verlag Berlin / Heidelberg, Pages 891 – 897

11. FST – Fondation Suisse Pour Les Téléthéses: Selbständig Leben… dank James 2. http://www.fst.ch/FST2/CATALOGUE/fiches_produits_details/James2_D.pdf

12. Dr. Hein GmbH: SiCare Series. http://www.sicare.de/sicare_produkte. html

13. GEWA: GEWA Prog 3. http://www.gewa.se/english/products/prodfra2.html