Samsung Electronics Australia has partnered with Deakin University and the City of Greater Geelong to trial home monitoring technology for the elderly, combined with machine learning Testing will take place across five residential households for six weeks, with participants ranging in age from 73 to 81 years.
The trial will use the SmartThings automation platform, Samsung SmartThings multipurpose sensors to monitor temperature and vibrations and Samsung SmartThings motion sensors to track the behaviour of the home’s occupants. These have been integrated to provide the homes with a monitoring and machine learning system that can alert healthcare providers when abnormal activity is detected in or around the home. The heart of the system is the Holly Hub, a small computer that receives data from sensors within each home, and when required, triggers audio and SMS alerts. Holly broadcasts audio messages to multiple speakers within the home and to minimise cabling, integrates with wireless speaker technology.
The trial also uses LIFX Light bulbs that can be controlled from a smart phone enabling the occupant to change the bulb’s light colour, brightness or switch the light on or off from the convenience of their couch.
Although the press release failed to explain how machine learning would be used, we believe the intent is that the system will ‘learn’ normal behaviour patterns and will be able raise an alarm when there is any significant variation. Clearly the trick will be to avoid false alarms but reliably alert to real situations where help is needed.
Deakin University’s Investor Engagement and Economic Projects Division, part of the Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources has facilitated the trial as part of Victoria’s smart city development.
A team of software engineers, data scientists, PhD students and postdoctoral staff members from the Deakin Software and Technology Innovation will collaborate and refine the project, supported by Samsung Electronics technology, SmartThings.
