There are homes that are smart because they’re programmed to perform the tasks that we tell them to do, such as adjusting the heat, turning off the lights, closing the drapes. Then there’s the kind of smart house that figures out what needs to be done without being told because it “knows” you.
It’s a concept that’s simultaneously wonderful and scary — we’re talking about our homes reasoning that a departure from our daily habits may be cause for alarm.
Are you ready for your house to be worried about you? You might be if you were of a rather advanced age and determined to live on your own.
About 40 seniors, average age 85, have for the last year lived alone in apartments filled with 30 to 40 motion, temperature and other sensors that gather data on such things as when they get up in the morning, when they eat, when they shower, make phone calls or have friends over. In other words, silent sentinels are tracking their every move and trying to learn what’s normal for them, in order to be able to figure out if they’re behaving in a way that merits concern — illness, a fall, failure to take urgently needed medicine. The home might intuit that they’re not getting much face time from others and could be in need of a visit. Or that their cognitive skills may be slipping.
Read more at: http://www.chicagotribune.com/classified/realestate/home/sc-cons-0426-umberger-smart-home-20120427,0,1310375.story
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Green Real Estate Appraiser 