Royal Philips Electronics opened its HomeLab, a real house decorated with modern furnishings and Van Gogh prints, in which individuals will live anywhere from 24 hours to two months interacting with state-of-the-art technology.

You won’t see remote controls scattered around or a multi-layered stereo system or clunky computer monitors in the Philips HomeLab. Such mainstays of to-day’s home have been replaced with futuristic technologies that are transparent to the naked eye, yet are more sensitive, personalized, adaptive, anticipatory and responsive to the presence of people, the company said.

The HomeLab was built so that Philips researchers can study how people interact with prototypes of intelligent technology, dubbed Ambient Intelligence, in a real-world setting.

"The Philips HomeLab is unique," said Philips’ president and CEO Gerard Kleisterlee. "It will enable us to observe people experiencing technology and new products in the context of a normal home. As a research facility HomeLab will provide us with a wealth of new information about the needs of consumers."

Residents of the HomeLab will be exposed to a range of Ambient Intelligent prototypes, including:

• Home Entertainment Systems that will respond to human voice commands or create digital fantasy environments for virtual reality games.
• Biofeedback Technology embedded in everyday household objects such as the bathroom mirror, where a digital display in the medicine cabinet plays videos that encourage children to brush their teeth.
• An Interactive User Interface that consolidates multiple home devices into a single system for managing typical digital activities such as recording a voicemail, watching a video or listening to music from any room in the home.
  
  "To achieve a world in which Ambient Intelligence is pervasive, we need to teach technology to react to humans rather than forcing humans to ‘program’ technology," said Erkki Liikanen, European Commissioner responsible for Enterprise and Information Society. "We also need to create technology that understands cultural differences, closes gaps in technology standards and is affordable for businesses to bring to market."

Philips is a key player in the European Commission’s four-year R&D program, Information Society Technologies, for which Liikanen is responsible.

For more information: http://www.philips.com