Human at Home: towards humane and intelligent housing
How can technology improve our living conditions? How will we interact with "smart" housing? What information is it possible and desirable to share? What future legislative framework should govern this data? Led by the CNRS, the University of Montpellier, and Paul Valéry Montpellier 3 University, the HUman at home projecT (HUT) is addressing these questions through an "observatory apartment" that has been inhabited since October 2018.
(original video presentation of the HUT project)
volunteer co-HUTers
In fall 2018, two student volunteers moved into an "observatory apartment," a field study site for some sixty researchers. Lawyers, economists, electronics engineers, computer scientists, architects, specialists in language and behavioral sciences, marketing, and health... the questions they ask can only be explored in a meaningful way by studying a permanent living space. Although they do not set foot on site, the researchers make use of the valuable data produced by the "co-HUTers."
In practical terms, floor pressure sensors and motion sensors in certain rooms are used to assess the movements and gestures of occupants in their living space. This information can be of interest to both architects (to identify areas that may be avoided by residents and optimize the layout) and healthcare professionals (as movements and postures can be indicators of well-being or discomfort). Sensors measuring pollution, the opening of cupboards or windows, water and electricity consumption, etc. make it possible to imagine new services.
Linguists and cognitive science specialists are studying the interactions of occupants with so-called "intelligent" systems. Research on the sensors themselves aims, for example, to make them energy self-sufficient (energy harvesting).
Research also focuses on managing the data produced by connected objects—both from a technical standpoint (how to organize these "data lakes") and from an ethical and legal standpoint. An independent ethics committee has been set up to protect the privacy of "co-HUTers." Its role is to review all scientific projects, and it can be consulted at any time by residents and researchers or take up cases on its own initiative.
To design this apartment, the consortium had access to a modular platform at the Maison des Sciences de l'Homme Sud. This platform can be converted into different rooms in a home, allowing for day-long experiments to be carried out in parallel with the long-term experiment conducted in the apartment-observatory.
The first occupants left the apartment in the summer of 2019. The apartment was then "reconfigured" based on the initial results and new avenues of research, before being offered again free of charge to two other volunteer students.
Become a CoHUTer and experience the connected home of tomorrow!
To apply, you must be enrolled in a Bachelor's, Master's, or Doctorate program in Montpellier; be a volunteer, motivated by the project, whether or not you are interested in technology; and agree to produce/share data on a daily basis as part of the project, which will be used solely by researchers and project members.
- Complete the application form by May 21, 2021.
First, we will review your application. Then, if you are shortlisted, you will participate in a second stage of meetings and discussions in June to join this innovative and experimental shared living arrangement.
Finally, the results will be communicated to the selected co-tenants in early July. It will be possible to move into the apartment from October 1.
At the crossroads of disciplines
This research project brings together a consortium comprising a local authority (Montpellier Méditerranée Métropole), seven companies (Delided, EDF, Nexity, Oceasoft, SensDigital, Synox, Weda) and a dance association leading an artistic research and creation project ("Comme ça"), alongside the Maison des sciences de l'Homme Sud and 12 laboratories:
- Dynamics of Law (CNRS/University of Montpellier);
- Muscle dynamics and metabolism (INRA/University of Montpellier);
- Epsylon (University of Montpellier/Paul Valéry Montpellier 3 University);
- Espace-Dev (IRD/University of Montpellier/University of the Antilles/University of Guyana/University of Réunion);
- EuroMov (University of Montpellier);
- Institute of Electronics and Systems (CNRS/University of Montpellier);
- Computer Engineering and Production Engineering Laboratory (IMT Mines d'Alès);
- Montpellier Laboratory of Computer Science, Robotics, and Microelectronics (CNRS/University of Montpellier);
- Laboratory for Innovation, Forms, Architectures, and Environments (Department of Culture);
- Montpellier research in economics (University of Montpellier);
- Montpellier management research (University of Montpellier);
- Praxiling (CNRS/Paul Valéry University Montpellier 3).
He received support from the Maison des Sciences de l’Homme Sud (South House of Human Sciences) as well as financial support from the CNRS Interdisciplinary Mission and Montpellier Méditerranée Métropole.