Last week, we were joined by Researcher Mo Haghighi from Bristol University, who introduced us to multidisciplinary smart house project SPHERE. Here are a few of the key points I took away.

1. The SPHERE project, based at Bristol University, seeks to explore the integration of sensors into a residential environment to capture lifestyle data and monitor residents’ health and wellbeing. The research team take the view that combining genetic, metabolic, medical and lifestyle data will give a rounded picture of a person’s health, which could be used to determine the right treatment for them should they need it. The sensors that they are working with could pick up on things like a change in the way someone walks, their sleeping patterns and perhaps even dietary habits. They are investigating how embedding this kind of system into peoples’ homes could ensure that symptoms of illness are recognised and perhaps diagnosed early on, and whether this might help in reducing the number of NHS admissions.

2. The SPHERE team have kicked off the project by installing a sensor system in a house in Clifton. Almost everything in the house is rigged with hidden sensors, from the stairs to the sink. All appliances are internet enabled and cameras are dotted around to monitor residents’ movements. Residents will be supplied with wearable sensors, to identify individuals when capturing data and to monitor activity levels when it comes to testing, which is due to start next year. The sensor platform that SPHERE is currently developing will be expanded to 100 houses in Bristol by the end of 2016.

3. Among the things that the SPHERE team is currently developing is a way for devices to be powered wirelessly through Radio Frequency Energy Harvesting.

4. The SPHERE team have recently launched a wearable technology competition called Dress/Sense, which challenges teams of scientists, medics, engineers, designers and textile artists to design a piece of wearable technology with a health benefit. The event takes place over three days and the teams will be competing for a £5000 prize. Winners will be announced on 22 November. Enter the competition here.

5. The SPHERE team is interested in what the public might want and not want from a ‘Smart House’. They are recording opinions on areas such as whether people would rather the technology was revealed or hidden/embedded. In the Q&A that followed the talk, we had some really interesting discussions about the importance of user-centered design, privacy and the cultural and commercial impacts of quantifying our domestic lives in this way. We’re all really interested to see how the project goes forward.