Skip to main content

This smart house could keep track of your health like a live-in nurse

ku smart house
Image used with permission by copyright holder
When people get sick, they go to the doctor. However, wouldn’t it be better to keep track of your health on a daily basis? That can take a lot of work, though, and so what if our homes could keep track of it for us? That’s a question that led Joe Colistra and his students to build a prototype smart house unit.

Colistra is the design and planning associate professor at the University of Kansas School of Architecture. Using two awarded grants totaling $51,000, he and his fifth-year students will build part of a home embedded with sensors to collect the biometric data of its residents.

Recommended Videos

“With Kansas City having Google Fiber, you ask yourself: What would you do with unlimited bandwidth? So we proceed to the question of big data collected through the built environment,” Colistra said in a statement to the university. “What if your house could capture your heel strike, the number of times you left your apartment, the number of times you go to the bathroom, how much sleep you got last night? The idea with connectivity and the Internet of Things is to link all that data together.”

Please enable Javascript to view this content

These sensors would be sensitive enough to use with predictive algorithms. For seniors, sensors in the floor could automatically alert someone if a resident has fallen. Or, if there is a new stutter in a resident’s step, it could notify them of a potential early sign of Alzheimer’s. Smart mirrors could identify new moles, lesions, or the effects of a stroke. Sensors in the toilet could keep track of a resident’s hydration levels and how much waste they are producing. Most of these sensors exist in other devices, but this would be done automatically in the background, without the need to turn anything on.

“We are looking at the possibility of taking hydration readings that might lead to adjusting your diuretic or heart medication on the fly,” said Colistra. “It could revolutionize geriatric medicine. Your housing unit could be like a medical device; it takes care of you.”

The team expects to complete the project by the end of this school year using prefabricated components including walls and floor panels. This approach should allow the items to remain economically viable on a larger scale. Results will be presented at upcoming conferences including Makers Faire Kansas City in June.

Garrett Hulfish
Garrett is the kind of guy who tells you about all the tech you haven't heard of yet. He also knows too much about other…
Nest Learning Thermostat (4th Gen) vs. Amazon Smart Thermostat: Which is best for your home?
The Amazon Smart Thermostat.

Smart thermostats are an easy way to upgrade your home's heating and cooling skills, and few products are as popular as the Amazon Smart Thermostat and Google Nest Learning Thermostat (4th Gen). The two offer many of the same basic features, though you'll find a handful of drastic differences between the devices -- starting with their price tag.

From pricing and design to installation and available features, here's a closer look at the Nest Learning Thermostat (4th Gen) and Amazon Smart Thermostat to help you decide which is better for your smart home.
Pricing and design

Read more
Upgrade your dorm with these smart home gadgets
The Echo Spot on a nightstand.

Summer is winding down, and students across the country are heading back to school. If you're heading to college, that means you're probably worried about getting your dorm room prepped for the year. That's often the most stressful part of returning to campus, as not only does your space need to be comfortable enough for all your studying, but it doubles as your home away from home. For those reasons, you'll want it to be functional, versatile, and capable of keeping you entertained when you're not hitting the books.

Thankfully, there are a bunch of smart home devices for your dorm that can turn even the tiniest and oldest of spaces into a futuristic oasis. From smart speakers and smart bulbs to smart plugs and more, here are a few smart home products that are perfect for your college dorm.
Smart light bulbs

Read more
Echo Spot vs. Echo Show 8: Which is best for your smart home?
The content gallery on Amazon's Echo Show 8 displays a news item about Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.

The Echo Spot is the newest edition of the Echo lineup. It serves as a smart alarm clock and is built for small spaces, while sytill offering lots of functionality despite its compact size. That's a stark contrast to the Echo Show 8, which offers a sizable eight-inch display and is designed more as an entertainment center. It's more expensive than the Echo Spot -- but is the Echo Show 8 worth its price tag, or should you opt for the more affordable Echo Spot?

From pricing and design to display quality and available features, here's a closer look at these two smart displays to help you find the right one for your home.
Pricing and design

Read more