Technology and Innovation Archives ~ INTERIOR DESIGN & CONSULTANCY FOR PROPERTY SUCCESS

How Genie the Robot is Delivering More than Face Value to Cornwall Housing in 2023

As small white desktop robot with an oval head black screen face and large blue round eyes sits on a wooden desk.

Using Voice and Touch Commands plus Video Links to Deliver a Range of Services

A residential care home Anvil Court in Camelford is the latest site to get a GenieHub through Independent Living part of Cornwall Housing. The GenieHub features a first generation robot called Genie developed by Bristol based Service Robotics.

Touch and Voice Command

Genie uses voice and touch commands and is able to provide a range of services on this platform. These range from medical assistance and social care to logging housing issues. Genie is able to help remind users to take their meds for example and will also in future be able to enable appointments using the video link to health practitioners. A calendar is available where you are able to set reminders for things such as private appointments.

Combatting Loneliness

Originally developed to combat loneliness Genie has the ability to recognise the mood of people through capturing several people and aggregating their expressions. It can also start a conversation and notice if you haven’t interacted with it for say 1 hour – it would for example offer to play a game with you.

Security is of utmost concern so it isn’t connected to the internet all the time unlike Alexa.

Genie Hubs

The GenieHub is a small private room where residents are able to login to their profile with Genie and interact with a Cornwall Housing companion using a video link to gain assistance. Eventually the plan would be to have these installed in private rooms and houses to help people gain virtual assistance through their own private Genie. It’s designed to be very simple to use so that older people who are not used to using smart phones are able to navigate it.

The efficiencies it brings are enormous when you look at the number of in person appointments that could be transformed by using this technology it is really encouraging. This would mean a significant carbon footprint reduction as well as savings in cost and resources. In person appointments would then be used where they are needed most particularly needed in health and social care. Genie also offers a degree of privacy and independence to users as it is less intrusive than having people visit – for those with compromised immune systems it also has obvious benefits.

The technology is proving useful to those with dementia in early stages as it can prompt reminders and also give you access to the date and time as a default screen if you wish rather than a face.

Future Uses & Future Proofing

In future the 1st generation Genie is future proofed so that when the 2nd generation Genie is developed it will receive the update through the cloud and have the extra functionality.

Access to users online shopping accounts will be enabled in future (although no bank details are stored within this system itself for security) so people can shop for their groceries online on it too as long as they have an account set up with say Sainsbury’s or Tesco for example.

Other features of Genie in development include the ability to recognise teh sound of fire alarms and smoke alarms or the sound of breaking glass.

Read more about the GenieConnect service by Service Robotics at https://www.genieconnect.co.uk/

There are so many potential applications of this technology.

What would you like to see Genie used for and why?

Designing Your Hotel VIP Suite to Maximise ROI

A private spa bath is a necessity for a VIP or Bridal Suite in a luxury hotel today in order to maximise your return on investment and be able to offer private spa treatments, but what facilities should be provided around this?

Well let’s enter into our suite via a lobby for example, which would have a focal point with an elegant piece of furniture such as a console with a beautiful bowl or objet d’art upon it. Aside from the reception lounge and dining area and guest w.c. what would a VIP guest expect?

The suite should be located adjacent to a couples treatment room that has two treatment couches, storage for spa equipment and a wash hand basin for the therapists use. Guests would also need access to two separate showers as if they were for example both to have a body wrap treatment they would need to wash this off to finish the treatment process.

Attention should be paidby the interior designer to the materials used in each of the rooms; so that it is in keeping with the location, period and context of the hotel, region and country. Authenticity is key to providing as luxurious experience as possible.

Spacious vanity areas for grooming and double wash hand basins should be provided in the area with a w.c. and a separate dressing area should be provided if possible.

There should be a relaxing area for post spa time with furniure such as daybeds or chaise longues to lounge on in bathrobes. Also in a warmer climate an outdoor relaxation area should be provided with a panoramic view where possible. If there is a private pool area then care needs to be taken to choose elegant water resistant furniture for the poolside with loungers and small tables.

VIP guests expect spa toiletries of good quality to be complimentary to their stay as well as small luxury gifts such as wine, flowers and chocolates.

If there is room a small sauna and steam cabin may also be provided but this is not always possible.

Smart technology can also be incorporated so that the guests stay can be tailored to greet them on the the flat screen tv, they can easily dim lights to suit their moods and open large blinds or curtains without having to get up. It can also be used for the different lighting scenes needed in the VIP couples treatment room.

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Rachel Bogdaniec of Spinriver Design ltd can provide spa design to hotels incorporating these important factors plus many more to make the most of the space available in your hotel and ensure that every square metre is making you the best return on investment. We work closely with local furniture, smart technology (availble to new build and retrofit) and soft furnishing suppliers to ensure that you get the best possible design and a finish to impress.

We’d love to hep you get it right! Ask a question for free on our facebook page http://www.facebook.com/SpinriverDesign or leave a comment here if you prefer!

1920's 1930's design resources Future trends Knowledge sharing Technology and Innovation Vintage

Postcards from NY!

Word Trade Fair 1939 Depicting the Skylon and Perisphere on a Postcard — New York’s Wolrd Trade Fair 1939 Depicting the Trylon and Perisphere on a Postcard by Keystone

Recently I made the trip of a lifetime to New York and California for my honeymoon for 3 weeks. I’ve never been to the USA before and so it was all the more exciting.

One of my interests is looking at the future – this fascinates me not only on a contemporary level but also looking historically at what we thought would lie ahead of us. I like to see what is going on and one of the ways I do this is by joining forums such as the Technology Strategy Boards’ “Knowledge Transfer Networks” or “KTN’s” essentially a knowledge forum.

The Technology Strategy Board is a government body that promotes technology through businesses in the UK. It links the public sector to private companies small and large to work on live projects together in an innovative way. Forums or “platforms” as they call them have different themes such as Low Impact Buildings or Assisted Living. Within these platforms lie the KTN’s (knowledge forums) such as Modern Built Environment. Read more here

http://www.innovateuk.org/ourstrategy/innovationplatforms/lowimpactbuilding.ashx

A programme called Catapult Centres is also fascinating; these are technology and innovation centres which aim to bring the best of the academic research world and join it with industry, promoting the UK to gain business here and abroad. One of the most exciting is their Catapult Centre entitled “Future Cities” – the location is still being decided. Read more about the Catapult Programme here:

https://catapult.innovateuk.org/about-catapult

Another of my passions is the 1920’s and I have collected a few interesting things in Paris from the 1920’s such as postcards from the original Art Deco exhibition in Paris in 1925 and a fashion newspaper also printed in the 1920’s. Imagine my joy when I found these postcards depicting the New York World Fair of 1939 – a vision of the future as they saw it then the Trylon and the Perisphere on these postcard drawings were actually built . The fair was “Building the World of Tomorrow”. Even better the guy that sold them to me was a young child and saw these very buildings at the fair himself!