'Intelligent' homes to care for the elderly

The elderly of the future could live in intelligent "caring homes" fitted with sensors to remind them if they have forgotten to eat breakfast, calm them in emergencies and alert helpers in a crisis.

The elderly of the future could live in intelligent "caring homes" fitted with sensors to remind them if they have forgotten to eat breakfast, calm them in emergencies and alert helpers in a crisis.

Professor Heinz Wolff, of Brunel University, told the association he has won £1.2m of government funding to create a sensor-laden experimental home that reacts to the behaviour of its inhabitant. "It could address you in your own voice, saying, 'Have I had breakfast this morning?' It could waft smells of coffee to remind you.

"If the person is still in bed at 11am it could say, 'Is it time to get up?' And if it gets no response, it would contact someone who could help you." The network of non-camera sensors would cost £3,000 and could be rented for, say, £50 a week.

The professor said such homes would become more necessary as the average age of the population grows. By 2010 there will be three million Britons over 80 able to look after themselves most of the time.

Professor Wolff is building an experimental version at Brunel.