InterHome Home Automation Technology Learns and Adapts to User's Lifestyle

The InterHome (image) was developed by the University of Hertfordshire which incorporates modular custom design units and draws on standard home automation systems; that allows you to monitored and controlled using web browsers, windows mobile and any SMS-capable mobile phone. The InterHome will learn and adapts to the occupiers’ lifestyle and helps with energy management which adds up to approximately £300 yearly.

The prototype InterHome was developed in a doll’s house using X10 technology, a home management system. The system can monitor you lighting, security and other home features. Using the technology demonstrated in the InterHome developers can eradicate wasted energy within UK homes and make a difference to CO2 emission statistics when installed in enough houses.

“InterHome improves on its competitors by being modular, adaptable and able to ‘learn’ our routines,” said Johann Siau, Senior Lecturer at the University’s School of Electronic, Communication & Electrical Engineering. “The technology enables the system to learn rapidly when we need the lights on or whether we are at home or at work and how the house needs to be at certain times of the day. If we forget to lock the front door or turn off the lights, it can text us and our response can reprogramme the system".

The InterHome will be unveiled at this year’s Microsoft Imagine Cup world-wide final in Cairo, where the University is a finalist in the competition. source