Internet Home Alliance trials the wireless laundry

Stuart Corner
Tuesday, 25 July 2006 02:42

Business IT - Technology

The Internet Home Alliance has launched an eight week trial in US homes, in Atlanta, to see how wireless communications can streamline the family laundry.
The Alliance is the connected home research group of the Continental Automated Buildings Association (CABA), North America's only industry association dedicated to providing information, education and networking opportunities relating to home and building automation.

The study, Laundry Time, aims to determine how effective an "intelligent" laundry solution is at simplifying and saving time on laundry tasks and gauge consumer attitudes about remote access and control of laundry appliances.

The homes have been equipped with washers and dryers incorporating wireless technology that enables them to communicate with cellphones, computers and TVs and to be controlled via SMS messages. So, for example, a washing machine will be able to tell its owner via SMS or a pop up on a TV screen when its cycle is complete, or when it has failed to complete because of an unbalanced load. A washer or dryer that was loaded but not started could send a similar message in case the user forgot to press the start button. Via SMS the owner would then be able to start it remotely.
 
A key rationale for the trial is that such communications might free up the time people dedicate to washing. According to Carol Priefert, senior product development manager, Whirlpool Corporation. "Whirlpool research shows that the average consumer 'batches' about six and a half loads one day per week, while heavy users may 'batch' as many as 15 loads. Laundry Time will test ways to make it easier for people to manage the process remotely or while doing other things around the home."

Companies supplying technology for the trial are Whirlpool Corporation, Hewlett Packard, Microsoft and Panasonic.

Laundry Time was tested in concept form in May 2004 when the Alliance launched a research study to assess the appeal of notification about various types of events in and around the home. Reporting on the results of that research it said:

"Alliance members have long expressed an interest in understanding consumers' reactions to event-driven notifications as a way of learning whether or not a notification platform of some kind would be a viable connected home solution. The research suggested that remote event notification has the potential to appeal to a broad base of consumers. Top-of-mind reactions to the concept consisted mainly of positive comments around convenience, improved safety and/or security, improved appliance control and time savings."

Laundry Time is the latest project in Internet Home Alliance's Pilot Program, which brings companies from various industries together to test how their products and services will work collectively in connected home solutions. The results of the trial will be made public in early 2007.