Medical Device Link.

Originally Published MX November/December 2004

MARKET ANALYSIS

PlaceLab, the apartment-scale homelike research space in Cambridge, MA, developed jointly by the House_n research group of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Tiax LLC, represents a new model of collaboration between academia and industry. The facility can accommodate multiple and simultaneous experiments by academic, industrial, and government researchers. Research proposals are evaluated by a scientific peer review process reflecting academic, government, and industrial perspectives. Final approval decisions made by the Tiax and MIT codirectors are based on the potential impact that the study results may have on industrial innovation and large-scale societal change.

The researchers are asked to fund or provide the necessary additional resources to conduct studies in PlaceLab. Tiax is available to assist in company-initiated research and in the transition to commercialization.

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The Research Agenda

PlaceLab has been designed for the incremental addition of research projects according to the interests of academic and corporate participants. Initial areas of study include the following.

Health Behaviors and Just-in-Time Information. Techniques are tested that support the effective human-computer interaction required for the foresighted encouragement of healthy behaviors related to diet, exercise, and medication adherence.

Activities of Daily Living. PlaceLab's rich sensing infrastructure is used to develop technologies for recognizing patterns of sleep, eating, socializing, and recreation. Changes in these activities, particularly among the elderly, are often early indicators of emerging health problems. The unique data sets generated will be used to develop activity-pattern recognition tools.

Biometric Monitoring. PlaceLab can accommodate research into the viability and acceptance of wearable physiological/medical monitoring equipment and its related interfaces.

Indoor Air Quality. The facility may be used to demonstrate and test novel air-quality monitoring and energy-efficient, health-promoting ventilation and space-conditioning products made possible by economical advanced sensors, wireless controls, and advanced air-treatment technologies.

Interior Infill Strategies. PlaceLab is used to investigate a path for more-sophisticated sensing, lighting, and control systems to be installed in prefabricated interior components to minimize complex and problematic field labor and allow for nondisruptive upgrades and changes.

Privacy and Trust. PlaceLab is used to study the privacy and trust issues raised by highly instrumented responsive environments, including opt-out strategies, data review techniques, and methods to address the perception of control.

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PlaceLab Features

The innovative PlaceLab design includes a backbone, or chassis, system that distributes data and power to modular infill cabinets customized to accommodate sensors. These sensors combine with advanced activity-recognition software to allow efficient observation. Researchers also have access to sophisticated audio, video, and still image recording capabilities. Major PlaceLab features include the following.

Interior Components. The apartment interior is formed by 15 prefabricated cabinetry components that can be rapidly reconfigured or replaced to allow for nondisruptive upgrading of the facility.

Sensor Network. Each interior component contains a microcontroller and a network of 25 to 30 sensors. New sensors can be rapidly added to this network.

Environmental Sensing. Each interior component has environmental sensors to measure such conditions as floor and ceiling air temperature and humidity. Additional environmental sensing, such as carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide detection, may be added as required.

State Sensors. Small wired and wireless sensors are located on every object that people touch and use, including cabinet doors and drawers, controls, furniture, passage doors, windows, and kitchen containers. These sensors detect on-or-off and open-or-closed states and object-movement events.

Audio Sensing. Barely visible microphones are installed in each interior component to capture audio.

Still Image and Video Capture. A sophisticated video-capture system processes images captured by discreetly placed visible-light and infrared cameras installed behind panels in each interior component.

Context-Aware Experience Sampling. Context-specific feedback from residents can be captured with standard PocketPC devices, using sensors to trigger and acquire information. For instance, the computer can monitor heart rate and trigger questions based upon heart rate variation over time.

Activity-Recognition Algorithms. MIT algorithms can be used to study activity-related data and to detect automatically certain activities, such as walking, housecleaning, moderate physical movement, and body posture, in real time in order to trigger an action or intervention.

Image-Based Experience Sampling. Computer vision algorithms, used with portable cameras, can collect video and audio data from the environment.

Wearable Biometric and Motion Sensors. Small, comfortable, and low-cost biometric devices and accelerometers can be worn for days or weeks to collect data. In combination with a mobile computing device, such as a personal digital assistant, the sensors can detect specific activities in real time and provide or collect context-specific information.

Audio Communication. Stereo speakers installed in each interior component allow audio to be directed to specific PlaceLab locations as required.

Addressable Lighting. The intensity and color temperature of light in each major PlaceLab space can be dynamically controlled, allowing light to be used as a communication tool and for aesthetic purposes.

Environmental Control. The PlaceLab heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning system contains multiple zones, a heat exchanger, and sophisticated air filtration to facilitate dynamic control of environmental conditions.

Copyright ©2004 MX