Probably smarter than you think.

Ask a smart person what they are capable of and they’ll likely rattle off a diverse list. Ask them what they could learn to do and the list gets even longer. The Smart CondoTM is very similar. A ‘living lab’ with a basic mandate of being an observable, accurate re-creation of a one-bedroom apartment, the Smart Condo is continuing to ‘learn’ new applications for research and learning.

The premise is simple enough: build a one-bedroom condo, fill it with cameras, and use it to watch students who are being tested on their in-home visit skills. Students can interview patients, whether they are real clients or actors (standardized patients) and the instructors can either observe or test students interacting with those patients. They can be graded on their performance, their verbal and non-verbal behaviour, their actions and interactions within the space, and more. Students can even watch the footage and see their own performance.

But the Smart CondoTM is even smarter than that. In fact, it’s almost pre-cognitive.

“When a patient is released, we can see how they will manage when they get home,” says Lili Liu, chair and professor of occupational therapy. “Will they take their medications? Will they discover a mobility problem which leads to an accident, which leads to re-admission and long-term care? We can predict this more accurately. We can establish monitoring and medication assistance strategies to allow the patient to return home with a sense of independence. To do this effectively, we need team collaboration in a real-world environment. The Smart CondoTM allows us to collaborate, with arts, sciences and medicine to find the best ways to re-integrate discharged patients safely into their own homes.” This involves pharmacy, physical therapy and industrial design. All disciplines can see how their decisions affect the patient, and how they mesh with each other’s work.

1012 sq ftof usable living space.

But the Smart CondoTM is smarter than that.

First of all, it is a home for true interdisciplinary collaboration. Students from many disciplines can be tested simultaneously in the same simulation. They can then see how they interact with other disciplines in the context of a home visit.

Secondly, many disciplines, even those outside of the health sciences, are working together to do more diverse research in the Smart CondoTM. When computing science students or industrial designers want to develop solutions for the home, they need to be able to see how the end user might interact with their designs. The Smart CondoTM allows them an unprecedented amount of data about those interactions, and can demonstrate the impact of their work on other disciplines.

Just how

SMARTCONDO?SMARTSMART

is a

20 - INTERACTIONS: Health Sciences Council Annual Report 2011-2012

And it’s smarter still.

The condo isn’t set up for only one kind of test. In fact, the true potential of the types of testing and research has only been scratched. The condo can be adjusted to meet the needs of almost any exercise.

It can also be completely unobtrusive. Thanks to a partnership with the computer sciences department, the Smart CondoTM is filled with a diverse range of monitoring devices. In fact, with the number of sensors embedded in the condo, an entire monitoring experiment can be conducted without the cameras. This cracks open another entire realm of analysis. With the data from the sensors, and a bit of digital re-creation using avatars, the behaviours of the occupant can be reconstructed without prying. This data has led to some interesting extrapolations.

“In an earlier incarnation of the Smart CondoTM, the sensors showed us that a patient was getting up frequently in the middle of the night to use the washroom. Although we weren’t specifically looking for this information, it proved to be very valuable to the clinician,” Lili says.

The amount of data that can be gleaned from the sensors is astounding. Of course, the condo isn’t quite smart enough to interpret all that data yet. Consistency of behaviours can be measured, and therefore deviations. This is where an interdisciplinary approach becomes so important. Consider a patient who is spending longer periods every day standing

in the kitchen. If the inhabitant is recovering from hip or knee surgery, this is a good sign. If the patient has been showing signs of dementia, this can be a bad sign. Thus the same data can have very different meanings for different disciplines.

Smart CondosTM make smart friends.

The condo has attracted some very interested parties. IBM, Phillips and Telus are already partners, and others are knocking on the door, eager to test their products in an easily monitored, real-world situation. A GPS company that makes ankle-bracelets for prisoners is working with the condo designers to see if ankle-bracelet technology has health applications.

And getting smarter.

The possibilities keep opening up. Monitoring-based assistance systems. Imagine sensors that know when you’ve left a room, and turn off the light that you forgot. Or turn low-level lights on for you when you wake to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Medication assist systems can be developed and tested in the Smart CondoTM. More ways to place sensors and gather data are being explored. The entire flooring is wired for more sensors. Different types of ambient lighting and colours are about to be explored to measure the effects on the occupants. (...continued on p. 22)

?Lili Liu

Chair & Professor Department of Occupational

Therapy

Eleni StrouliaProfessor of

Computing Science

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One dilemma that is encountered with monitoring situations is the fact that the subject knows they are being watched. With eight video cameras tracking your every move, it is unlikely that individuals in the Smart CondoTM will forget they are being observed, and will act accordingly. How do you know if they are going to remember to take their medication regularly when they are on their best behaviour? Thanks to Eleni Stroulia, professor of computing science, that problem has been solved.Sensors can be placed everywhere: the furniture, the appliances, even the floor. “We embed technology in the space to be able to recognize the activities of the people living in that space, in an unobtrusive manner,” Eleni says. “By having sensors in the environment tell us how they move, pressure sensors in the furniture let us know when they sit and stand. Sensors in the cupboards let us know when they are using the cupboards. Detecting ambient noise and lighting let us know if they are watching television. Electrical monitors show us the consumption of electricity (and thus usage) through appliances. We’re also

Watching without Watching

able to tie into medical monitoring devices. Blood pressure cuffs, glucometers, et cetera.“Instead of video, which is intrusive, we can reconstruct the person’s activity using the sensors.”Using the data from the multiple sensors throughout the condo, an avatar can be programmed with the data, which can then portray the essential activities of the client, without resorting to more intrusive processes.

”Instead of video, which is intrusive, we can reconstruct the person’s

activity using the sensors.Eleni Stroulia

Other disciplines are welcome to explore how the possibilities of the Smart Condo™ can help their research.

The Door is Open

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Non-Slip Bathroom Floor:This is an affordable, aesthetically

pleasing surface that looks ‘at home’ in the condo and is perfectly

safe when wet.

Moveable Island:This island can be relocated until the optimum space is left in the kitchen for any mobility assistance devices.

Multiple Grab-Bars:Various bars that are

reconfigurable to discover the optimum

balance between mobility assistance and aesthetics.

Adjustable Height Kitchen Surfaces:All counters and cupboards in the

kitchen can be adjusted to different heights to determine the optimal setting

for any particular occupant.

Smart CondoTM means Smart DesignThe installation of the Smart CondoTM in the Edmonton Clinic Health Academy was an opportunity to take the design up a notch. The principles of universal design, accessible design and intergenerational design were applied to the construction, creating a truly ‘brilliant’ space. A significant step from a foam-core mock-up in a small room in another building.

No-Curb Design:Every floor surface

is on the same level. No lips, steps or curbs to impede

mobility assistance devices such as

wheelchairs and walkers.

Wider Doorways and Hallways:Significantly wide enough to accommodate walkers, wheelchairs and motorized devices.

Sliding Doors:Eliminating the need

to get out of the way of a swinging door, these

doors take up less living space, allowing more

area for mobility.

High Flexibility :Almost everything can be moved and adjusted in order to best suit the occupant.

VIDEO SENSORAUDIOMonitoring:The Smart CondoTM is outfitted with eight video cameras, six microphones, and can be equipped with dozens of sensors.

The very fact that multiple disciplines can research the same subjects in an authentic environment simultaneously, and see how their efforts are affecting each other, is perhaps the smartest thing about the condo. All of this research can help to develop technologies to assist any type of in-home care-giver, be it a professional, family member, volunteer, or neighbour.

The Smart CondoTM is making new friends, learning more tricks and continuing to develop ways to make the world a better place. That’s a pretty smart condo indeed.