House of the Future

THE HOUSE

OF THE

FUTURE

How robotics and automation technology may one day shape the place we live

By Danielle Lucey

A

The University of Florida’s Gator-Tech Smart Home appears like any other house from the outside — save a campus sign — but on the inside monitors its dwellers’ habits. Photo courtesy Sumi Helal.

robot in every home.

Much like his now-modest vision for person-

The rosy future of in-home robotics isn’t

ted a home with monitoring devices aimed

al computing, Microsoft founder Bill Gates

purely reliant on a personal fleet of Rosie

at researching inhabitant behavior, though

predicted in a 2006 Scientific American

the robots, though. Homes themselves are

they’d never know it.

article that, one day, robotics would be as

slowly gaining intelligence in their own

prolific as the technology for which he is

right and are just another example of how

known.

the aging Baby Boomer population will

Unpredictable to Gates — and everyone else ­­— at the time was the 2008 housing slump and financial upheaval that most of the world still struggles with; however, as holds true with most robotics, it seems, an industry of little helpers-that-could keep vacuuming, laundering and cooking along.

According to a 2010 International Federation of Robotics study, the latest year for statistics, service robotics is a $13.2 billion industry. For 2009, 5.6 million robots for domestic use and 3.1 million robots for entertainment or leisure were sold. IFR estimates the projected sales of all types of do-

not go quietly into assisted living facilities.

Scores of universities around the world are pouring research dollars, yen and euros into in-home sensors, cameras and aware

“In our case the demographics are good because Florida is the retirement capital of the world,” says Sumi Helal, director and principal investigator of UF’s Gator-Tech Smart Home. “We have the perfect subjects to ask them to help us.”

appliances that could extend the indepen-

Aimed at monitoring the elderly and peo-

dence of aging or disabled people.

ple with certain diseases or disabilities, re-

And once these robotic-based technologies converge with at-home information technology-equipped houses, having robotics and automation in the home — or perhaps even

searchers have kept the technology largely invisible so it’s not intrusive, but they are still able to track a person’s habits and determine if there are any behavioral changes.

a part of the home — could seem as neces-

“Part of the success is to make the technol-

sary as owning a laptop, smartphone and

ogy disappear and be invisible and out of

tablet all at once.

the way,” he says. “The house was fitted with sensors and actuators and other de-

mestic robots could reach 6.7 million units

Researching the smart home

from 2010 to 2013, with entertainment

Tucked away in a retirement community

and leisure bots up 4.6 million.

eight miles off the University of Florida cam-

It has a smart floor that allows the home to

pus in Gainesville, researchers have outfit-

track the location of people inside and can

vices, basically to do some tasks, such as monitoring what the user is doing.”

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Fall 2011

9

Robotic Houses — continued from Page 9 count the number of steps a dweller takes.

Right now his team is working on creating

“The common thing about these robots is

It can also monitor hygiene and bathroom

fuzzy algorithms that would see these small

that they are becoming an interesting de-

use, so the house can show longer-term

behaviors as a nonessential element of the

vice,” he says, continuing that not all user

trends that may correlate with changes in a

activity. His goal is to move activity recogni-

interfaces in a home are acceptable. “Do-

person’s health.

tion from just research into something us-

mestic robots create emotional ties with the

able to programmers.

user, and it is much better to talk to that silly,

Getting the home to understand what ex-

nice-looking, cute-looking robot than talking

actly you are doing, however, has proven

Though in the past researchers have cou-

to be tricky, says Helal. A researcher could

pled the brains of the home with informa-

spend time using machine learning and ar-

tion from mobile devices, Helal says the

tificial intelligence to tell if a person is cook-

most promising interactive device in the

Robots, also unlike other devices, offer the

ing, for example, but even small changes

home that he’s seen is the domestic robot.

element of persuasion, says Helal.

The Gator-Tech Smart Home currently has

“In obesity for example … imagine telling

in behavior make it difficult for the house to guess that activity accurately.

to the walls. It’s more spooky to talk to the walls.”

two of these, one French and the other

the user to go on the Web so you can tell

“One day you wake up and you run your

South Korean, that not only provide a lot

him something to convince him to eat less

algorithm and your smart home is watch-

of programmability for the researchers but

or send him a text message,” he says. “If

ing, but then the user comes up with a

also offer an emotional element to a per-

you keep sending text messages, the user

freak behavior, like change the way they

son living in the house. The house team

begins to have to manage these messages,

do things completely,” he says. Even slight

has done research in the past using iRobot

at least delete them. It’s a chore. And we

behaviors like a head scratch can be chal-

Roombas. Regardless of platform or mobil-

wanted something that’s so smooth that it

lenging to the algorithm.

ity, Helal says they’re proving valuable.

almost becomes a pet.”

A Willow Garage illustration imagining its PR2 taking on a Rosie the robot role. Image courtesy Willow Garage.

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Fall 2011

Helal says the Asian market is moving extremely quickly in this area, and he was encouraged to see President Barack Obama support domestic robotics when he announced the National Robotics Initiative in late June.

hosted many series of research projects.

One particular disability the Aware Home is researching is autism and how technology in the home can help all involved in a child’s therapy to become higher functioning. For example, explains Brian Jones, di-

“I’m looking at ways that some of these technologies, along with some that are fairly common, like motion sensors and door sensors, noninvasive heart respiration and motion sensors … how all these things can come together to build a better picture around certain conditions of interest,” says

“American companies need to step up,

rector of the Aware Home project, by using

because this is becoming an important ele-

cameras to capture the child’s behavior,

ment,” he says. “I think this is really impor-

the child’s care network can then use that

Like the Gator-Tech Smart Home, Georgia

tant. We need more companies working on

information to create a uniform approach

Tech’s home uses robots to help with its re-

domestic robots in the U.S.”

to addressing the behavior. The National

search. Currently, Aware Home has a Wil-

Science Foundation is funding this research-

low Garage PR2 robot, and the research-

ing.

ers are familiarizing subjects with the robot

The University of Florida’s Gator-Tech home isn’t the only robotics-equipped research

Jones.

and studying how residents would like it to

home in the southern United States. The

For future studies, the Aware Home is tran-

Georgia Institute of Technology hosts the

sitioning its in-home technology so its series

Aware Home, a project borne out of a fac-

of sensors allows a more integrated envi-

ulty desire to study what kinds of technol-

ronment and could reveal patterns of daily

“This summer we actually had the robot in

ogy are useful in a home setting. Focused

living, explains Jones. The researchers are

the home performing some of those activi-

on heath care, but also based on a desire

monitoring things like electricity and wa-

ties to see how some of the older adults re-

to test home bandwidth capabilities, the

ter use and also determining if there’s any

sponded to the robot making mistakes or

university’s home started in 1998 and has

health data in that information.

doing it correctly, how it delivered the medi-

function. The robot could deliver medication or remind a person to take it.

cation, for example, or how long it took it to pick up certain things,” he says.

Having a robot in a home setting is useful since it’s a very controlled environment, Jones says.

“It becomes an assistant to the caregiver,” says Jones. It could also become a feedback mechanism for either talking to the individual or providing some other feedback on how well they’re doing today. And it can be a sensor in the environment, so it’s able to observe behaviors.”

The robot could also be a social device,” says Jones, “somebody to confide in.”

Willow Garage’s PR2 robot was created for research that works with its open-source software.

Photo courtesy Willow Garage.

SCAN IT

or

Click IT:

To see Willow Garage’s PR2, which has been programmed to fetch a beer from the refrigerator, scan this barcode with your smartphone.

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11

Robotic Houses — continued from Page 11

IRobot’s latest robot, Ava, is aimed at the healthcare market. Photo courtesy iRobot Corp.

At-home helper Jeff Beck, president of iRobot’s home robots division, says people get so emotional about their connection with the company’s flagship product, the vacuuming Roomba, that he’s received multiple letters a week since he started with the company about two years ago.

“It really set me back a little,” he says. “I started getting letters from people talking about their robotics in the first person. They give them names; they adopt them almost as family members.”

Beck notices that the younger generation tends to respond to the robots by having fun with them, say by filming cats riding around up top and posting it to YouTube, but the company’s older clients form a strong emotional bond with the company’s Roomba, robotic mop Scooba, pool cleaner Verro and gutter cleaner Looj.

SCAN IT

or

Click IT:

Scan this barcode with your smartphone to see the most popular YouTube video of iRobot’s Roomba. A cat taking the product for a spin has more than 6.6 million hits on the website.

IRobot’s Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner is its most popular domestic robot to date, having sold more than 6 million copies. Photo courtesy iRobot Corp.

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Fall 2011

“You get people who are wounded veterans or elderly people and they’ll write letters saying, ‘Because of Roomba and Scooba, I’m able to live in my home more comfortably. I don’t have to worry about pushing a vacuum cleaner or mopping my floors.’

Those types of things happen all the time.”

The company, which gained about 55 percent of its 2010 sales from its domestic robot division versus military ground vehicles, is successful in the still burgeoning field of domestic robots by focusing on practicality, Beck says.

“Our primary business, different than a lot of other companies, is that we’re really looking to develop and deploy practical robots that are useful and do lots of jobs that people don’t like to do every day in their homes,” Beck says.

With strong customer sales in the United States, Western Europe, Japan and South

Korea — iRobot has sold more than six mil-

in terms of making a change in people’s

lion Roombas since 2002 — the Massachu-

lives,” says Willow Garage’s Brian Gerkey,

setts-based outgrowth of the Massachusetts

director of open-source development.

Institute of Technology focuses on marketing

Though some don’t see the immediate rel-

to a demographic they call the “meticulous

evance of these projects — the most high-

techie.”

profile coming from Sen. Tom Coburn from

“That’s essentially people who are well ed-

Oklahoma, who in June publicly denounced

ucated, higher income bracket, very busy

National Science Foundation spending on

with their lives, they work a lot, they don’t

robotics projects like Berkeley’s laundry

have a lot of time to do household chores,”

folder — Willow Garage is invested in

he says, “but they’re also at the same time

these robots one day being everywhere.

very, very house proud. … They like to

“I would say that we’ve met a lot of prog-

have friends over and entertain.”

ress in the last 20 years in robotics, and the

Having grossed more than $230 million

last five years more on the personal robot-

in 2010, the company is constantly study-

ics side, robots in and around the spaces

ing new domestic areas of interest to its

where people are,” says Gerkey.

market segment and does focus groups on

iPhone home

how those robots would work to maintain people’s homes. Much like the computer

Using available open-source media is also

boom of the last 50 years, iRobot believes

the current trend in automated housing.

that one day there will be multiple robots in

Company HD Media Systems, a custom

every home, says Beck.

technology home integrator headquartered

“The biggest challenge, quite frankly, is

in Jackson, Mo., won the 2011 Electronic

believability,” Beck says. “We still devote

House magazine Home of the Year Award,

the majority of our marketing activities to

outfitting a house with only $50,000 in

demonstrating products and making sure that people understand they really do work.

They almost look too good to be true in some cases.”

technology, orders of magnitude less than HD Media Systems relied heavily on Apple products to set up a user-friendly series of controls for the home, some of which were mounted into the walls. Photo courtesy HD Media Systems.

Simplicity and usability will also be key, he

company co-owner Drew Balsman.

Customized with automatic lights, preset shower temperatures and irons that set

says, just like they were for home computing.

the second and third place homes, says

themselves for morning use, the award winvacuuming or other tasks, the Silicon Valley

ning home, designed by Bravo’s “Flipping

“When I look at something like an iPad, I

company does have two robots, Personal

Out” star Jeff Lewis, was able to be cheaply

think that the brilliance of that product is not

Robot 2 (PR2) and the smaller, cheaper

renovated via heavy reliance on Apple

so much in its computing power but that it’s

TurtleBot, that, using open-source software,

products located throughout the home that

easy to use,” he says.

can be transformed into personal helpers.

control its features. The three children over

In fact, iRobot uses tablets as the “head” of

The University of California Berkeley has

one of its newest creations, Ava, a home

programmed a PR2 — which at $400,000

and healthcare robotics platform. The com-

a platform is intended for research — that

pany recently teamed up with California

has learned how to sort socks and fold laun-

telemedicine company InTouch Health,

dry, with the long-term plan of performing

and the team is working on developing a

the entire laundry cycle. The Technical Uni-

remote presence capability for healthcare

versity of Munich is focusing on how the

“You can do anything in the house from

providers.

PR2 can cook a traditional Bavarian break-

any of those pads that I want them to do,”

fast.

says Balsman. “Now for the kids I don’t

Open-source home robotics

“The reason that we focus on personal

Although fellow robotics company Willow

robotics is that’s where we think there’s

Garage doesn’t make specific robots for

the greatest opportunity for a big impact

the age of nine in the house each have one of the family’s eight iPhones, and four iPod Touches and eight iPads are throughout the home — some of the iPads permanently mounted in the walls — and can control anything in the house.

give them full access to the house. I give them access to their rooms, their TV, maybe the playroom, some basic lighting control.

That’s it.”

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13

Robotic Houses — continued from Page 13 Home entertaining is easy too: Any guest

mile radius from its headquarters, explains

“We have a large home that was done

with an iPhone or iPad can plug into the sys-

Balsman, but with the growing popularity

about a decade ago that has 350 some

tem and have their music playlist or home

of the home automation market and HD

odd different individual light loads,” says

video displayed throughout the house.

Media Systems’ growing profile, they’ve

Balsman. “I mean it’s a huge house; we’re

expanded to take calls from the East Coast,

talking 15,000 square feet plus. We up-

Texas, Arkansas and Tennessee.

dated that particular customer to a new

The company, only five years old, was borne from Balsman and his partner Scott Starzinger’s realization that information

And as home technology customization gets

technology and audiovisual home technol-

more popular, Balsman says the price to

ogy are headed on a collision course.

automate features drops. Before the iPad’s

“The exciting thing for me when we start talking about automation is it’s getting to

release, a single touchscreen interface in a home could cost about $5,000.

lighting control system with different types of sensors that had light harvesting, and we went in and added some motion detectors so it would automatically shut down different zones when they weren’t being used, and we cut his electric bill probably by 30

a point where, honestly, three, four years

“When you look at mainstream, you can

percent in the course of just two months.

ago, if it wasn’t a high-end client that had

start with something as simple as a couple

And when your electric bill is two grand a

the money to really invest in it, it wasn’t

light switches, an iPad interface, a ther-

month? That’s a big deal.”

something that we talked about. And now

mostat and a basic controller. You can get

I talk about entry-level automation with es-

started on those things for literally less than

sentially every single customer that I’m in

$1,000.”

front of, whether it’s a small single-room job or whatever. We’re talking about the basics of automation all the time.”

When the company started, it typically would only work on homes in about a 150-

Extravagant systems are more versatile and programmable than entry-level work, says Balsman. In the Electronic House home,

In addition to the dropping price of many

the technology revolved around a Savant

of these technologies, some of the features

control system. Made by Savant Systems,

themselves are cost savers too, particularly

the home technology controller is the only

for large homes.

Apple-based home automation system on the market.

The Electronic House magazine Home of the Year was outfitted with gadgets from HD Media Systems, a home audiovisual and automation company. Photo courtesy HD Media Systems.

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Robotic Houses — continued from Page 15 Although right now a lot of these home features require human interaction, Balsman believes the technology is currently on the cusp of becoming truly autonomous.

“Honestly, in my opinion, that’s where we’re at right now,” he says. “What you’re seeing and what you’re starting to see the focus of most of the automation companies is to truly make it automated, where it’s truly a matter of scheduling or where the house is interactive on its own attributes. That’s the next step.”

With current technology, the push of a button can control anything that’s tied into the Savant system, including elevators and even a quirky chandelier in the winning home that flashes to show that the bathroom is out of toilet paper.

“But it’s still by the press of a button,” Balsman admits. “So the next step is really getting the house to interact on different scenarios or different themes, so to speak.”

Right now there are a few fairly standard automated features, like blinds and shades that adjust to outdoor lighting and weather or turning on and off a pool’s features. In the future, the end user could input his feedA child’s bedroom from the Electronic House Home of the Year winner. Once they reach a certain age, the kids in the home also use iPads, iPhones and iPod Touches to control a limited number of settings. Photo courtesy HD Media Systems.

back and the house could react to that automatically.

Some technologies in their infancy now incorporate Bluetooth sensing, says Balsman, so the house can sense where its inhabit-

“There are some advantages to that,” ex-

Balsman can also update home features on

ants are at all times. For example, if a par-

plains Balsman. “It’s extremely robust, the

the fly and remotely. He recently altered a

ent is driving near the house, its gates and

GUI [graphical user interface] is fantastic.

home for the school year so that the lights

garage door can open automatically when

Their product is probably the most solid,

of the house and a song slowly wake the

it senses the car is coming near.

stable platform I’ve ever seen.”

children when it’s time to get ready. And

The Electronic House home has been functioning for a year without a single crash, he says, “and in my experience, that’s unheard of.”

Savant system around Apple, whenever the tech giant releases a new operating system, the home gets automatically updated with it.

Mission Critical

the children how much time they have left before they have to leave the house.

“The trick is to start integrating all those different aspects of your daily life and start doing it automatically.”

“Once they understand what’s capable, it’s

Also, by structuring the backbone of the

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when it gets to crunch time, a voice tells

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Fall 2011

really just up to your imagination to come

Danielle Lucey is managing editor of Mis-

up with different scenarios that are useful

sion Critical.

for them, which I think that’s the key,” Balsman says.