digital life


Life is becoming digital for some time now, [Negroponte]. We are surrounding ourselves with gadgets and we are consuming immense amounts of information, that is increasingly being delivered to us via the Internet. We play games, and we still watch (too much) television.

domotica


Domotics is a contraction of the words domus (Latin for house) and robotics (automation). Domotics is the combination of technology and services for improved living in the areas of safety, comfort and technical management. It is therefore a complete system, not just a remote control.

alternative definition


Domotique or domotics is a contraction from the Latin word "domus" (= home, house) and telematics. In the following the term smart homes is used instead of domotics.

smart house


A house cannot be smart, although certain products and solutions can be". We rather talk about intelligence that can be achieved when products are connected together.

service(s)


The various terms lead to confusion amongst the customers. Moreover, in the various countries a diversity of opinions exists concerning the concept of smart homes. Therefore, the following definition has been formulated: Smart home technology is the integration of technologies and services, applied to homes, flats, apartments, houses and small buildings with the purpose of automating them and obtaining and increase safety & security, comfort, communication, and technical management.

(virtual) domotica


To be able to control the complexity of smart houses, we need to simulate the behavior of such systems and their interaction with a user using virtual reality systems based on intelligent multimedia technology.

We call the application of VR technology to investigate domotica issues virtual domotica.

domestic servant


As (what may be considered) an example of a virtual domotica application, we have developed a domestic servant that takes commands and questions in natural language. The servant acts as an intelligent agent and learns from the instructions given by the user. The agent lives in a virtual house consisting of a number of rooms with a variety of objects, which it may move or manipulate.

pragmatics