Learning about End-User Development for Smart Homes by "Eating Our Own Dog Food"

SPOK is an End-User Development Environment that permits people to monitor, control, and configure smart home services and devices. SPOK has been deployed for more than 4 months in the homes of 5 project team members for testing and refinement, prior to longitudinal experiments in the homes of families not involved in the project. This article reports on the lessons learned in this initial deployment

An Ecological View of Smart Home Technologies

International audienceIn this paper we propose an ecological view in which a smart home is seen as an interconnected collection of smart objects that work together to provide services to inhabitants. We review home technologies in a historical context in which the home is a personal habitat that provides services to inhabitants , and draw lessons from the profusion of new services that were made possible by the introduction of electricity in the home during the 20th century. We examine possible metaphors for smart homes, including the smart home as an inside-out autonomous robot, and the smart home as an ecosystem of smart objects providing services. We propose a taxonomy for smart home services and discuss examples for each class of service. We conclude with a discussion of required system qualities and potential show-stoppers. Continued advances in information and communication technologies, coupled with progress in machine learning, sensors, actuators and human computer interaction make it increasingly easy to embed technologies for perception, action, communication and interaction in ordinary human objects. The result is an enabling technology for smart objects and smart environments with the potential to provide revolutionary new services. In this paper we discuss how this technology can be used to create new forms of intelligent services for the home. We begin by discussing historical barriers to Home Automation, and propose an alternative ecological view of the home as a personal habitat that provides services such as personal protection and shelter from the elements. We examine the profound rupture in the nature of services that resulted from the introduction of electricity in the home at the beginning of the 20 th century and draw lessons from the adoption of different forms of electric appliances. We then examine the nature of services that are made possible by the introduction of ambient intelligence in the home. We propose a taxonomy for smart home services in terms of tools, housekeepers, advisors, and media. For each class, we explore forms of services for different functional areas of the home. We conclude by discussing required system qualitie