If those psych experiments you did in college made you feel like a lab rat, imagine living in the Home Depot Smart House at Duke University’s Pratt School of Engineering. After two years of planning, ten students will be able to reside in the tech-filled home Fall 2007. The students will test the various technology that will include various entertainment, security, waste management, and communications components while maximizing energy efficiency and minimizing environmental effects. The 6,000-square-foot home cost $2.5 million, funded by cash and contributions from Home Depot, is designed around and filled with projects developed by more than 220 students.
Some of the house’s features include:
- Personal identification system
- Automated locks
- Automated temperature control
- Voice controls for lighting and entertainment components via house-wide microphone arrays
- Cell-phone controlled laundry
- Refridgerator inventory
- Low maintenance vegetation
- Rainwater collection
- Solar panel for energy collection
- Centrally routed electricity and plumbing
- Active noise filtering
- SQL- and PHP-based sensor platform
Oh, and if you are a Duke student, the application is now available online, though the 10 Smart Home residents each semester will likely be picked from the students working on the project.
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