UF 'smart home' demonstrates concept of automated elderly hel...( GAINESVILLE Fla. -- At 85 Matilda is ...),Health

At least she would if she were real.

Matilda is actually a life-size mannequin whose wig and school-marm spectacles symbolize her identity as an elderly person, and her home is an experimental 500-square-foot "smart house" at the University of Florida. The house melds the latest computer and sensor technology to provide automatically the assistance at home that many people need as they age.

Consisting of a fully furnished living room, kitchen, bedroom and bathroom, the house takes up the better part of a fourth-floor computer laboratory in UF's computer science engineering building. Built into this cozy but complete living space is a mind-bending array of experimental assistive-living devices, ranging from a microwave that recognizes entrees and automatically determines how long to cook them to sensors that track an elderly person's whereabouts in the home. These devices are linked by a computer network and keep tabs on each other and, most important, the resident whence the discretely placed electronics on Matilda's clothes.

"What this home demonstrates is the evolution from assistive devices to assistive environments," said Sumi Helal, an associate professor of computer and information science and engineering. Helal also is director of technology development for the UF Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Technology for Successful Aging.

Some other examples of how the smart house makes life easier for aging occupants:

• If water leaks onto the floor, the house senses it and alerts the resident by cell phone.

• If a visitor comes to the door, sensors pinpoint which room the resident occupies, and a camera beams the visitor's picture to a TV screen there.'"/>