Ambient Assisted Living Technology

Ambient assisted living technology, known as ambient welfare technology in Denmark, promises to play a prominent role in the future of home health care. This project, sponsored by the Danish Association of the Blind, investigated the social and political context of ambient welfare technology and the primary concerns of stakeholder’s in its development. The results from our research were used to develop criteria for evaluating assistive devices and make recommendations for future development of these technologies

Averting Robot Eyes

Home robots will cause privacy harms. At the same time, they can provide beneficial services—as long as consumers trust them. This Essay evaluates potential technological solutions that could help home robots keep their promises, avert their eyes, and otherwise mitigate privacy harms. Our goals are to inform regulators of robot-related privacy harms and the available technological tools for mitigating them, and to spur technologists to employ existing tools and develop new ones by articulating principles for avoiding privacy harms. We posit that home robots will raise privacy problems of three basic types: (1) data privacy problems; (2) boundary management problems; and (3) social/relational problems. Technological design can ward off, if not fully prevent, a number of these harms. We propose five principles for home robots and privacy design: data minimization, purpose specifications, use limitations, honest anthropomorphism, and dynamic feedback and participation. We review current research into privacy-sensitive robotics, evaluating what technological solutions are feasible and where the harder problems lie. We close by contemplating legal frameworks that might encourage the implementation of such design, while also recognizing the potential costs of regulation at these early stages of the technology

Strengthening Human Autonomy. In the era of autonomous technology

‘Autonomous technologies’ refers to systems that make decisions without explicit human control or interaction. This conceptual paper explores the notion of autonomy by first exploring human autonomy, and then using this understanding to analyze how autonomous technology could or should be modelled. First, we discuss what human autonomy means. We conclude that it is the overall space for action—rather than the degree of control—and the actual choices, or number of choices, that constitutes human autonomy. Based on this, our second discussion leads us to suggest the term datanomous to denote technology that builds on, and is restricted by, its own data when operating autonomously. Our conceptual exploration brings forth a more precise definition of human autonomy and datanomous systems. Finally, we conclude this exploration by suggesting that human autonomy can be strengthened by datanomous technologies, but only if they support the human space for action. It is the purpose of human activity that determines if technology strengthens or weakens human autonomy

Smart Housing: Technology to Aid Aging in Place - New Opportunities and Challenges

We are at the threshold of a great change in architectural design. With cheaper and more ubiquitous computing, ?smart? spaces and responsive environments are increasingly becoming plausible and affordable. Are we as architects prepared? Can the profession of architecture respond to current computing technologies? Most critics agree that one of the first (most important) problems that ?smart? homes will help to address is that of spiraling costs of elderly healthcare and care giving. But what is the problem with healthcare? Even if there is a problem, the rural home is different from an urban home. Will the technologies that are designed for the urban home work in a rural setting? What are the differences between urban and rural healthcare models? In this thesis, we address the above questions through research of current problems and models of rural healthcare and through a documentation of studies and reports published over the last decade. This research helps us to understand if architecture can really augment healthy aging in rural home settings. In conclusion, we will examine the role of architecture (and architects) in the context of ubiquitous computing and ?smart? spaces in rural areas and propose a possible solution for this problem

A landscape of repair

This paper reports on EPSRC-funded research that explores the role of repair in creating new models of sustainable business. In the lifecycle stage of repair we explore what 'broken' means and uncover the nature of local and dispersed repair activities. This in turn allows us to better understand how the relationship between products and people can help shape new modes of consumption. Therefore, narratives of repair are collected to identify diverse people-product interactions and illustrate the different characteristics of, and motivations for, repair. The paper proposes that mapping the different product-people interactions across the product lifecycle, particularly at the stage of fragile-functionality (performance or function failure, emotional disengagement, superseded technology) is important in understanding the potential for enduring products and their repair. Building a landscape of repair creates new opportunities for manufacture and for slowing resource loops across product lifetimes, which together provide a framework for a sufficiency-based model of production and consumption

The Emerging Role of Robotics in Personal Health Care: Bringing Smart Health Care Home

Affordable, accessible health care is in short supply in the U.S., due to the rapidly aging population; robotics can provide a solution to this problem. This project developed user requirements for a personal health care robot. From interviews with robotics professionals and focus groups with caregivers and the elderly, the team gained an understanding of potential users’ desired functionalities and acceptance of robots. The team developed a taxonomy to characterize robots’ interaction with users. The requirements generated by the studies were used in conjunction with this taxonomy to recommend a robot for use in personal health care. An in-home monitoring system was found to have the greatest potential to benefit the health care industry and the target demographic

Digital care at home : exploring the role of smart consumer devices

Funding: Royal Society of Edinburgh (62651), Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland (RIG008250), University of St Andrews (StARIS).In-home ‘smart’ consumer devices such as voice assistants, doorbells, thermostats, and lightbulbs have been advocated by organisations in the UK such as the RNIB, Alzheimer Scotland, and the NHS. Yet the use of these devices, which are not purposely designed as care devices and therefore are not subject to evaluation and regulation, has been neglected in the academic literature. This paper reports on a study which examined 135 Amazon reviews of 5 ‘top-selling’ smart devices, concluding that such devices are being used to supplement informal caring, albeit in different ways. The implications of this phenomena are necessary to consider, specifically the consequences for ‘caring webs’ and expectations about the future role of digital devices within the landscape of informal caring.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

The User Value of Speech Recognition at Home

Humans have interacted using speech for thousands of years. Since the middle of last century, humans have been able to interact with computers using speech. Recent investments in speech recognition have resulted in the technology making its way into the homes of mainstream consumers. However, little is known about the user value of this target group using speech recognition in the home environment. The user value is relevant to IKEA for determining how, or if, the technology can deliver to their vision of creating a better everyday life for the many people. The purpose of this thesis is to explore the user value for the broader audience using speech recognition in the home environment. Further, the aim is to understand if, and how, speech recognition is relevant to IKEA. To reach the purpose, an exploratory, mixed method design, combining qualitative and quantitative strategies has been used. The primary approach of this study is a market research approach for identifying user value called means-end chain. Derived values are triangulated with feedback from experts and compared to existing literature. Aspects of implementation, such as product design and business have been excluded from the thesis. Four user values of speech recognition in the home environment are concluded; facilitate daily life, everyday efficiency, comfort and increased calmness. All four values refer to tasks complementing, not replacing, already existing interfaces. Moreover, a scepticism towards the new technology of speech recognition is identified. Speech recognition is also concluded to, entirely or partly, fulfil the IKEA product development criteria for smart products, namely; convenience, easy to understand, clear use case and solving a user need. Therefore, speech recognition can contribute to the IKEA vision of creating a better life for the many people.Människan har interagerat genom att använda sin röst i årtusenden. I mitten av förra seklet började datorer förstå människans röst. På senare år har stora investeringar för röststyrning i hemmet gjort att teknologin börjat nå en bred konsumentmarknad. Användarvärdet för röststyrning i hemmiljö för denna målgrupp är varken välkänt eller väldokumenterat. Användarvärdet är intressant för IKEA för att avgöra hur, eller om, teknologin kan bidra till deras vision om att en bättre vardag för de många människorna. Syftet med denna uppsats är att utforska användarvärdet av röststyrning i IKEA-kundens hemmiljö. Utifrån detta avgörs om röststyrning är relevant för IKEA. Syftet uppnås med en explorativ ansats som utgår från en flerstegsmetod vilken kombinerar kvalitativa och kvantitativa data. Uppsatsens primära ansats utgörs av en marknadsanalysmetod för att förstå användarvärde som kallas means-end chain. De framtagna värdena trianguleras med feedback från experter och jämförs med befintlig litteratur. Aspekter som har med implementering att göra, såsom marknadsstrategi, affärsstrategi och funktionalitet ingår inte i denna uppsats. Fyra användarvärden identifieras för röststyrning i hemmiljö; underlätta vardagen, vardagseffektivitet, bekvämlighet och ökad avkoppling. Samtliga värden syftar på aktiviteter som kompletterar, inte ersätter, redan existerande gränssnitt. Det framkommer även en viss skepsis mot den nya teknologi som röststyrning representerar. Utöver detta dras slutsatsen att röststyrning, helt eller delvis, uppfyller IKEAs kriterier för utveckling av smarta produkter, nämligen; bekvämlighet, lätt att förstå, tydligt användningsfall, och lösa ett användarproblem. Därmed anses röststyrning kunna bidra till syftet att skapa en bättre vardag för de många människorna

Form, Function and Etiquette – Potential Users’ Perspectives on Social Domestic Robots

Social Domestic Robots (SDRs) will soon be launched en masse among commercial markets. Previously, social robots only inhabited scientific labs; now there is an opportunity to conduct experiments to investigate human-robot relationships (including user expectations of social interaction) within more naturalistic, domestic spaces, as well as to test models of technology acceptance. To this end we exposed 20 participants to advertisements prepared by three robotics companies, explaining and “pitching” their SDRs’ functionality (namely, Pepper by SoftBank; Jibo by Jibo, Inc.; and Buddy by Blue Frog Robotics). Participants were interviewed and the data was thematically analyzed to critically examine their initial reactions, concerns and impressions of the three SDRs. Using this approach, we aim to complement existing survey results pertaining to SDRs, and to try to understand the reasoning people use when evaluating SDRs based on what is publicly available to them, namely, advertising. Herein, we unpack issues raised concerning form/function, security/privacy, and the perceived emotional impact of owning an SDR. We discuss implications for the adequate design of socially engaged robotics for domestic applications, and provide four practical steps that could improve the relationships between people and SDRs. An additional contribution is made by expanding existing models of technology acceptance in domestic settings with a new factor of privacy