Innovation on the surface
INTELLIGENT surfaces can help us save energy, live independently, and pinpoint our whereabouts in times of crisis.
They work like a big skin, detecting changes in pressure, heat and moisture thanks to a carbon alloy called graphene. In doing so, they can sense the presence or movements of a person within a space.
The Mediated Intelligence in Design (MInD) Lab at Deakin University has some creative ideas on how this technology could be used in the built environment.
The MInD Lab was recently approached by Imagine Intelligent Materials — an advanced manufacturing company based in Geelong — about the wonderous properties of graphene, and how to best apply it to different surfaces.
Professor Tuba Kocaturk, director of the MInD Lab, said the potential for the technology was enormous. It’s particularly exciting because it hasn’t yet been used in the building sector.
One possible application is to install it in cultural institutions, like museums. Curators could track how long visitors are spending at certain exhibits, and the number of patrons who pass through.
The surfaces also have potential as energy-saving tools. Upon detecting there are more than 30 people in a room, it could increase the heating or air-conditioning. As people leave the room, it could turn them down.
The possibilities for intelligent surfaces are seemingly endless. But perhaps most impressive are the ways it could be applied to health and safety.
Let’s say that a building was equipped with the surfaces, and caught on fire. It would be possible to find out if people were still trapped in the building and, if so, exactly where.
But the MInD Lab is interested in one application in particular: installing the surfaces in aged-care centres.
If the floors could detect changes in someone’s movement patterns, or sensed a sudden, forceful increase in pressure, it could register that a resident has taken a fall and alert a nurse to come and help.
Prof Kocaturk said the key to making these surfaces so useful lay in these extra actions.
“Just because someone is walking on a sensor, it doesn’t make it intelligent,” she said.
“It’s a technological innovation, but that doesn’t automatically make it a valuable product for real life. You have to use it in a context that turns it into actionable information.”
Similarly, this technology could be applied to homes. If family members could be alerted when their elderly relative fell, they could immediately respond. Intelligent surfaces could help an ageing population to live independently for longer.
Graphene-enabled sensing provides a number of advantages over more conventional sensing technologies, due to being low-cost, easy to maintain, and having superior sensing capabilities.
Unlike conventional technologies, it causes no concern for privacy, as it captures no visual or personal information. It simply monitors changes in movement, temperature and humidity. Prof Kocaturk said it was this unobtrusive quality that made intelligent surfaces
“ambient”, a concept that seeks to make technology much less daunting.
Ideally, ambient intelligence improves the way we interact with a space – without us even realising it’s there.
“It’s about getting rid of the computers, the hardware, and embedding intelligence in a space. This is a completely new approach for sensing,” she said.
“We want people to feel more in tune and comfortable in the presence of technology. Right now, it’s not the case for many ordinary people.”
This would be especially useful in a place like an agedcare facility, where the technology needs to be non-intrusive: functional, but not flashy.
“This gives a lot of comfort to potential users and in aged care especially. This is a very sensitive issue, not only for the elderly, but also for their relatives who are paying for these services,” Prof Kocaturk said.
MInD Lab was recently awarded an “Innovations Connections” government grant, in collaboration with Imagine Intelligent Materials, to explore innovative commercial applications of graphene enabled sensing in buildings. The project is starting this month.