Intelligent homes and other smart technologies

Imagine a house that could find your eye glasses, remind you to eat your vegetables, monitor your blood pressure and heart rate as you walk across the bathroom floor, and prompt your 80-year-old mother who has dementia through the process of toileting and washing her hands. And if she fell down, the house could also call for help.

A decade ago, when Alex Mihailidis was a master’s student and came up with the idea of an intelligent home to support people through the various stages of life, even fellow scientists considered the concept far-fetched. 

Today, Dr. Mihailidis is a highly-regarded, published researcher and in-demand speaker for major conferences on aging and technology, where there are “all kinds of sessions on this type of work,” he says. “I guess we were ahead of our time.”
 
Dr. Mihailidis’ pioneering work—inspired by a colleague whose wife had early-onset Alzheimer’s disease—has led him to be named Toronto Rehab’s Barbara G. Stymiest Chair in Rehabilitation Technology Research. 
 
The research chair is “recognition of Alex and the fact that we really believe his field of research has an important future here,” says Dr. Geoff Fernie, Vice President, Research, at Toronto Rehab. “We’re an applied institution, which means we believe that within a reasonable timeframe, this work will have important implications for the people we serve.”
 
A biomedical engineer and associate professor of occupational science and occupational therapy at the University of Toronto, Dr. Mihailidis oversees a group of diverse researchers with backgrounds in engineering, computer science, occupational therapy, speech-language pathology and gerontology. The team’s goal is to develop “zero-effort technologies that are adaptive, flexible and intelligent, to enable users to participate fully in their daily lives.”

Their work ranges from a powered anti-collision wheelchair and a robotic arm that uses artificial intelligence to help stroke patients regain upper body strength, to a variety of projects focusing on intelligent environments.  

One of Dr. Mihailidis’ most exciting projects is a fall detection device designed to “allow older adults to remain in their homes independently and more safely for as long as possible, and to relieve the stress on family caregivers and friends. Falls are the most common cause of injury among older people. One-third of older adults fall every year and about 25% die from complications of their fall.”

Called ‘The Helper,’ the system—which is in the final development stages and awaiting an industrial partner to commercialize and market it at what will be an affordable price—is among a range of intelligent technologies he is working on that uses computer-vision and voice-recognition software and can be integrated into a home network. The network would also include a smoke detector, burglar alarm, nutritional detection system and devices that prompt or coach users through activities from hand washing and getting dressed to taking medication and preparing meals.

An intelligent home environment would allow the occupant to use as little or as much of the home’s capability as needed. As the occupant ages, the home adjusts to meet their changing needs in order to support independent living for as long as possible.

The next challenge for Dr. Mihailidis and his team: how to move from standalone systems that need to be installed in a home to a fully integrated intelligent home environment. “Could we make the house itself the technology? Could all these capabilities be incorporated into the building materials themselves?”

Dr. Mihailidis informally refers to this concept as “brick computing” because every brick or other building materials, such as flooring or wallboard, could include “the computer and networking capabilities needed for an intelligent environment.

“I’m hoping to use this research chair to explore the integrated concept and other ideas about what a smart home would look like,” he says. “The idea is that no matter what you are doing, the home recognizes your intent. No matter what your abilities and preferences, it provides a system to meet your needs—whether it’s prompting, doing tasks or reminding you where your keys are. These systems would apply to anyone—with or without a disability.”