A Smart Home Testbed for Evaluating XAI with Non-experts

Abstract

Smart homes are powered by increasingly advanced AI, yet are controlled by, and affect, non-experts. These non-expert home users are an under-represented stakeholder in the explainable AI (XAI) literature. In this paper we facilitate future XAI research by introducing a family of smart home applications serving as a testbed to evaluate XAI with non-experts. The testbed is a hybrid-AI system spanning several AI disciplines, including machine learning and AI planning. Applications include a smart home battery and smart thermostatic radiator valve (TRV). End-user functionality is representative of leading commercial products and relevant research applications. The testbed is based on a flexible software architecture and web-based user interface, supports a range of AI tools in a modular fashion, and can be easily deployed using inexpensive consumer hardware.