NUHome Laboratory

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NUHome is a behavioral monitoring assessment and intervention laboratory. Located on the 4th floor of Richards Hall at 360 Huntington Avenue, the NU Home Lab is 600 square foot enclosed space architected as a one bedroom apartment with an adjacent computer control room. It is equipped with a full spectrum of sensors, including set of 2D and 3D cameras, passive infrared sensors, contact switches, microphones, etc., that are used to make as accurate assessment of the participants’ actual behaviors during testing the systems to be deployed in a number of studies. The following are examples of lab use cases:

  • Testing user interfaces for modules without the Consortium on Technology for Proactive Care’s Health Coaching Platform. This will include visual interfaces on smart phones and televisions, auditory interfaces (i.e. Amazon Echo, Google Home), haptic feedback, and other cutting-edge technologies. We will also explore how best to provide feedback from sensors (e.g. wearable devices) to augment coaching techniques.
  • Testing installations procedures and standard use of devices in the home. In our previous work, we have found that installation and testing may significantly depend on the environmental aspects with the homes of study participants (spatial arrangements, etc).
  • Conducting small focus groups and usability studies with a variety of in home and point of care systems. In the study of assessment and modeling of cognitive functions based on interactions with computers, we plan to compare behaviors and interactions in the home and environment with those in the lab to assess the effect of various contextual and environmental variables.
  • Collecting and fusing data from a variety of sensors to infer behavior and detect noise from low-level movement. For example, the lab will be used to examine the constraints that various activities (cooking, cleaning) impose on gait parameters.

View a clip about NUHome on WGBH Boston.