Creating Resilient Smart Homes with a Heart: Sustainable, Technologically Advanced Housing across the Lifespan and Frailty through Inclusive Design for People and Their Robots

This paper, published by MDPI, discusses the integration of technological advances within the home as a pathway for creating socially and financially sustainable and scalable solutions for improved built environments for people across their lifespan.

Finding that the term “smart home” currently translates closer to the term smart house, rather than a notion of home, the work explores the integration of smart home technologies and sustainable housing design to support vulnerable groups, arguing that technological advances within homes need to have multidisciplinary input and greater involvement of those who understand the potential of space in shaping people and societies.

The report argues that to achieve a harmonious blend of technology and domestic life, particularly with an ageing population and increasing needs for accessible environments, it is imperative for academicians, technologists, and industry stakeholders to collaborate. It also finds the need for a well-defined mechanism where the impact of these technologies is evaluated for all ages and cultures ahead of wide dissemination to ensure that these innovations are not just technically advanced, but also widely embraced by the end users.