Working together for a safe home
Haigerloch 15 May 2024 - Theben, Future Shape and ProKNX aim to cooperate in the field of AAL / Fall monitoring and call for help possible
Living in your own home well into old age is not only what most people want, it is also a social necessity. This independence can be supported by a whole range of technical equipment. The term ‘Ambient Assisted Living’, or AAL for short, covers various technologies that help people who are no longer fully mobile or even in need of care to manage their everyday lives. Age-appropriate assistance systems range from simple adaptations to mobile phones to complex smart home systems. Smooth interaction between components from different manufacturers is essential.
Together with Future Shape and ProKNX, Theben AG is now offering a special package when it comes to security within your own four walls. The ‘LUXORliving’ smart home system can be effortlessly supplemented with the Aragon voice assistant and SensFloor, the ‘touchpad for the floor’. The three companies presented this product combination together for the first time at Light+Building 2024 in Frankfurt.
Register the fall and order help
It is probably the horror story of many people living alone: falling and no one hearing the cries for help. How reassuring to know that such an emergency situation can be detected automatically from the floor and help can be summoned with the help of a voice assistant. This is exactly what the new cooperation makes possible: ‘In this collaboration, we are taking on the special challenge of self-determined living in old age and jointly offering the advantage of bringing a complete package with optimally functioning and already tried and tested interfaces to the market. What's more, customers have just one point of contact,’ reports Jens Pfister, Head of the Building Automation business unit at Theben AG. The centrepiece of the cooperation is the LUXORliving Smart Start smart home system. The system, which is based on radio signals, can be installed quickly and without major construction work and offers all the functions that are needed today and in the future, including switching, dimming, drives, climate control, panic function, window contacts and time control. The range of functions can be flexibly expanded.
SensFloor: the smart floor
The SensFloor system is responsible for monitoring the home, as it detects every movement. It consists of a sensor underlay, a small receiver and smart software that analyses and displays the sensor data. The sensors are invisibly located under the normal floor covering and transform the entire floor into a giant touchpad. ‘The SensFloor software analyses the tracks, recognises situations and triggers the stored actions. The system can learn everyday processes, such as the daily routine in a room, under AI control and report any noticeable deviations,’ explains Axel Steinhage, Managing Director at Future Shape. ‘The recordings are anonymous, 100% compliant with data protection regulations and are only processed locally,’ he continues. If the resident falls and can no longer help themselves, SensFloor either carries out predefined actions or communicates with the injured person via the Aragon voice control system.
Communication with the Aragon voice control system
The offline voice control system Aragon is part of the ProKNX product line, which works without cloud services. Aragon protects privacy because everything that is said remains in the room. Commands are only processed locally on the device. ‘Although offline, Aragon's vocabulary is not restricted and remains at least as diverse as that of online assistants,’ explains Christian Kiefel, CEO of ProKNX. For example, special commands can be defined for the application, such as communication between Aragon and SensFloor, which massively increases the safety of residents. Aragon also makes it possible to control and query devices and functions such as lights, televisions, shutters, heating and alarm clocks. ‘This means that physically impaired people in particular can use the functions of their home without restriction via voice control. We see great benefits for the ageing society in the cooperation between ProKNX, Future Shape and Theben. In the future, we will encounter topics relating to self-determined living in old age and ambient assisted living more and more frequently,’ says Christian Kiefel, taking a positive view of the new cooperation.
More information on the three products can be found here: