HomeSense Research Kit
Daniel Soltis (American, born 1975),
Natasha Carolan (Irish, born 1985),
and Richard Wood (British, born 1983)
of Tinker London (UK, 2007–11)
2010
Card, paper, electronics, and cables
11 11/16 x 16 9/16 x 27 9/16"
(29.7 x 42 x 70 cm)
Homesense is a pilot program devised
by the designers at Tinker London with
the support of the energy company EDF
and HighWire, a computing and design
program at Lancaster University, UK.
The program helps people develop their
own smart homes, with systems that
allow them to track and understand
their energy usage but also to help with
various tasks specific to their homes
and lifestyles. The designers felt that
previous attempts at smart homes,
no matter how effective the technology,
were too impersonal and kept users
from feeling invested in the results.
Homesense, by contrast, was developed
with input from real households playing a
part in the creation of their own devices
and monitoring systems. Each household
was paired with an expert who helped its
members track various kinds of information
and develop ideas for useful tools,
such as a garbage bin that appears
progressively angrier the more it is
used and a device that waters plants
for people too busy to do it themselves.
Category: Objects
Tags: Interfaces / Visualizations / Open Source
