Promoting Autonomy in a Smart Home Environment with a Smarter Interface

In the not too distant future, the median populationage will tend towards 65; an age at which the needfor dependency increases. Most older people want to remainautonomous and self-sufficient for as long as possible. Asenvironments become smarter home automation solutions canbe provided to support this aspiration. The technology discussedwithin this paper focuses on providing a home automationsystem that can be controlled by most users regardless ofmobility restrictions, and hence it may be applicable to olderpeople. It comprises a hybrid Brain-Computer Interface, homeautomation user interface and actuators. In the first instance,our system is controlled with conventional computer input,which is then replaced with eye tracking and finally a BCI andeye tracking collaboration. The systems have been assessed interms of information throughput; benefits and limitations areevaluated.