In 2001, Orange, a UK mobile network operator, announced the “Orange
at Home” project, a smart house incorporating the latest technology
wizardry built some 20 miles north of London. It was intended to be more
than a mere showcase, with plans for real families to move in and live
with the smart home. My then research establishment, the Digital World
Research Centre at the University of Surrey, was commissioned to study
how these families reacted to their new home, and to report lessons for
the future development of smart homes and smart home technologies.
