The luxury apartment has a collection of devices to die for. The smart lights, plugs, blinds and smarter coffee maker are voice-activated by Alexa on an Amazon Echo Show and linked up to the Withings bed sensor via an If This Then That app.
“When you go to bed at night and it feels your weight going on the sensor, it will turn the lights off for you,” explains Kerry Stack, research and innovation lead at ExtraCare. “In the morning, when you get out of bed, the coffee machine will switch on and the lights will come on. By the time you come back from the bathroom, your coffee is brewed, and the blinds are open.”
Welcome to the innovation apartment at Solihull Village, the latest development to be opened by The ExtraCare Charitable Trust, which describes itself as the UK’s leading not-for-profit provider of retirement villages for people aged 55 and over. ExtraCare, which runs 16 retirement villages and four housing schemes across the Midlands and surrounding...