An experiment that includes elements of the Big Brother reality TV show -- replete with hundreds of electronic sensors as well as microphones and video cameras -- goes much further by bringing science to task examining how people use technology in their homes.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology's PlaceLab is a 950-square-foot one-bedroom condo in a condo complex in Cambridge, MA where volunteers -- with little actual contact with researchers -- put under the microscope virtually every aspect of their lives.

Volunteers -- singles, couples, and families of different age groups -- who agree to live in PlaceLab for varying periods can't escape hundreds of sensing components installed in nearly every part of the home.

The sensors develop user interfaces that help occupants easily control their environment, save resources, remain mentally and physically active, and stay healthy.

The sensors also monitor how people react to new devices, systems, and architectural design.

Among other efforts, PlaceLab research will be used to develop technology that recognizes patterns of sleep, eating, socializing, and recreation. Changes in these activities, particularly among the elderly, are often early indicators of emerging health problems.

The living lab will use biometric or wearable monitoring, examine air quality measurements and investigate the use of space.

Researchers say such lifestyle research is necessary to improve health care, especially remote health care technology that will allow physicians to monitor health signs from afar using glucose meters, electronic scales, and other equipment.

Most people prefer to age in place and stay in their own home when they retire, rather than moving to a nursing home or health care facility. More and more Americans are also spending more time at home working a home-based business or telecommuting.

PlaceLab also is one of a growing number of experimental homes or "X-Homes" that serve as prototypes offering a variety of glimpses inside the homes of the future.

One component of MIT's "Changing Places Home of the Future Consortium," ongoing research of the links between the home and places of healing, work, learning, and community, PlaceLab is investigating:

• What influences the behavior of people in their homes?

• How can technology be effective in the home context for long time periods?

• Can technology and architectural design motivate life-extending behavior changes?

• To what degree can measurements of activity in the home be quantified in a way useful for creating new computer applications for the home?

• How can technology be used to simplify the control of homes of the present and future, save resources, and improve health?

• What influences how people adjust to new environments?

• How do people learn in the context of the home?

• What new innovations for the home would most fundamentally alter the way we live our everyday lives?

MIT also plans a second living lab -- a fully functional single-family detached home -- used to demonstrate component- or modular-based building strategies and using those strategies to create easily configured energy- and resource-efficient homes and living spaces.

Published: October 12, 2004

Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

A journalist for 35-years, Broderick Perkins parlayed an old-school daily newspaper career into a digital news service offering editorial content and consulting services. Perkins' San Jose, CA-based DeadlineNews Group includes the flagship news site, DeadlineNews.Com, offering real estate, personal finance and consumer journalism, and a backshop, the Deadline Newsroom.