Smart homes for the rural population: New challenges and opportunities

Abstract

"Smart" Homes (domestic environments in which we are surrounded by interconnected technologies that are more or less responsive to our presence and actions) seem increasingly plausible with the emergence of powerful mobile computing devices and real time context aware computing (Edwards and Grinter, 2001). Research at premier technology universities have given birth to home "labs" that experiment with sensors, cameras and monitors to study physical, behavioral and social consequences of such technologies on occupants of such homes. One of the most important problems that "smart" homes will eventually help to address is that of spiraling costs of healthcare. Using ubiquitous technologies to motivate healthy decisions can help prevent the onset of myriad medical problems (Intille, 2004). Moving the focus of attention from the health centers and hospitals to the working home through such technology interventions would eventually lead to decreased financial pressure on the traditional healthcare system. This paper examines the challenges and opportunities in the design of "smart" technologies for preventive healthcare in rural homes. It summarizes findings from current ethnographic and demographic studies; and examines other contemporary research in the field of ubiquitous computing and "smart" homes. With the help of these studies, the paper lists different technical, social and functional challenges that we as designers may have to consider before designing "smart" homes for rural populations.