University Program Is Building A House That Monitors Health

A professor and his students at the University of Kansas School of Architecture have been awarded more than $50,000 to construct a smart housing unit that will keep its residents healthy.

Phys.org reports that the home will feature embedded sensors that track biometric data. The house will monitor how much residents sleep, use the bathroom, and leave the home. Smart mirrors will look for changes in the skin, and smart toilets will monitor hydration. The floor will count heel strikes, which can sense if someone has fallen and not able to get up.

The project is expected to be completed by the end of the school year.

Design & Planning Associate Professor Joe Colistra said the project will be done with an eye toward creating a smart house with prefabricated components (e.g., walls, floor panels) so that such items become economically viable if implemented on a large scale. … Colistra said working with health insurance companies on creating such dwellings would be ideal. They might be motivated to do so with the idea of bringing down their own costs, he said.

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