Smartification of Home Appliances for Safety Assessment and Risk Alert

The developments in production processes are a need in times that require more efficiency, improved costumer engagement and customized smart solutions. In order to meet such criteria, the fabrication processes must be adjusted to meet those new requirements and engage in new production paradigms. Technology is now able to supply parts and processes for manufacture of new products as those emerging from the growing smartification of everything. In that sense, the present research work targets the process of smartification of furniture pieces and its associated process of fabrication. 3D printing, sensors and smart devices are all components of the smartification process that, as proposed in the present document, will support the development of new smart furniture pieces. The smartification process consists in enabling such furniture to monitor and react accordingly to human behaviour by identifying accidents or potential risks to persons at indoor facilities. The result hereby presented is a strategy to create smart home appliances that will become smarter than traditional furniture and thus become able to detect risks and react accordingly. The behaviour consists in alerting the person or someone responsible for their safety and assistance, either at home or in a care facility, to enable prompt response and promote their wellbeing.