A major project has caught the attention of the national media in Germany, an intelligent apartment under development by CITEC and the v. Bodelschwingh Foundation Bethel with twelve further regional partners.

The project is called KogniHome and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research is funding the Cluster of Innovation from 2014 to 2017. In October 2015 KogniHome was awarded in the national initiative “Germany – Land of Ideas”.

Built into the apartment is “smart” technology enabling it to advise its residents on fitness and diet, remind them of appointments, or suggest clothing suitable for the weather conditions as they leave the flat. It appears as a virtual assistant on a screen in the living room and the kitchen.  The residents can communicate with it naturally with gestures or speech – in a similar way to a person.  Among other concerns, a subproject with Bethel investigates the kind of support test persons want from the apartment. It establishes which technology appears to be useful to them and what they do not want.