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Buildings Could Save Energy By Spying On Workers
Galactic_grub writes "In the future, your place of work (or apartment) may very well spy on you. But that doesn't mean it'll be able to name and shame you for all your nasty habits. Researchers at Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratory (MERL) have devised a 'dumb' surveillance system that monitors the movements of workers without identifying them individually. The idea is to have a computer system automatically configure the air-conditioning to save money, or illuminate the most appropriate escape signs in an emergency."
My company already has this. Lights / ventilation run only from 6:30 AM to 6:30 PM. At that points, the lights / hvac goes out. But if you are working and want to reactivate these systems, there is a webpage (and a phone extension) that you go to, input your office location, and voila -- the systems come back on.
and according to the company, its dropped costs by a third.
http://www.marshallbrain.com/manna1.htm
Depending on how you want to think about it, it was funny or inevitable or symbolic that the robotic takeover did not start at MIT, NASA, Microsoft or Ford. It started at a Burger-G restaurant in Cary, NC on May 17, 2010. It seemed like such a simple thing at the time, but May 17 marked a pivotal moment in human history.
liqbase
Fair enough, if they have the sense to make it so that the default is ON. Lost connection somehow, sensors not responding for any reason? It lights and stay lit. And if they really went to the trouble of making it an automated system, they should have colored bulbs. Green = Primary exit. Yellow = Secondary exit. Red = Blocked exit. No light = BULB IS BROKEN. I mean seriously, if people don't use an exit because they assume they're not suppose to use it because it fails to light up, you've made a much bigger screw-up. In most cases there's some obvious signs this exit isn't usable, like flames and smoke...
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
Hey, this is research, not an actual implementation or anything. I was just responding to the parent because he thought it was because of electricity savings. I personally would not mind buildings getting smarter, as long as they don't put movement detectors inside of toilets (I don't like to s(h)it in the dark).
Many modern manufacturing control systems use integrated safety systems. Some gigantic machine is being run with a PLC that tells motors to start when buttons are pressed, etc. The same PLC is also watching to see if a safety cord is tripped by some guy who is caught in the machine. This is pretty reliable if properly implemented.
For Exteme Super Safety you add a second PLC looking at the a second set of contacts in the safety cord. If at any time both PLCs don't agree, the machine stops.
This kind of setup is reliable enough for giant stamping presses, I suspect it would be OK for lighting up signage.
"Sacrifice for the good of The State" - The State
Even for the practically blind guy, wouldn't it be better to avoid confusing him by not lighting exit signs for a route that leads through the danger? Most places require redundent exits from areas larger than 'Joe Manager's corner office'.
If one is blocked by fire, shut the lights off so people don't attempt to go that way. Use standard redundant wiring for it, to include test sensors to tell you when the thing goes bad.
I don't read AC A human right
I think the point is to make it 72 degrees if 1 or more people are present, and 100 (or whatever it would be without air conditioning) degrees with 0 people present.