Technology at the service of health: a home automation device that allows us to always know the quality of the air we breathe
There is an ever-increasing discussion about environmental pollution and the harmful substances in the air that we breathe every day. After all, air like food and water is an essential element for human life that allows us to live and provides us with vital energy.
Would it not be nice, then, to be able to constantly monitor the quality of the air that we breathe in the environments where we live, study or work? This may seem like a difficult task to put into practice, but this is what the fifth-year students in an electronics course at the Volterra-Elia Higher Education Institute in Ancona (Italy) proposed to do with their innovative home automation (domotics) project.
The name of the device is AirCloud and it is a modular domotics home automation system created to keep all the parameters of the air around us under control, at home, at school, and in workplace environments. The current version of this useful device not only allows you to measure temperature and humidity but goes much further. In fact, AirCloud is also able to provide detailed data regarding the presence of CO2 (carbon dioxide), PM10 (particulate matter), PM2.5 (particulate matter), and VOC (volatile organic compounds).
Firstly, the negative effects of CO2, especially in closed environments, are now well known, so much so that there is an increasing tendency to limit such greenhouse gas emissions.
Secondly, the same can also be said for the fine particles (PM10 and PM2.5), particles that are harmful to our health, which are derived mostly from human activities that pollute the air such as smoking, cooking, vehicle exhaust, fireplaces, etc.
Lastly, VOC refers to all those volatile organic compounds which, within an environment, can be present in an odorless and invisible form and which, obviously, can harm the health of the occupants.
To provide these important parameters, AirCloud can also interface with home automation virtual assistants (domotics), such as Amazon’s Alexa, to transmit signaling messages and receive and issue commands. In short: a very useful and innovative project that certainly represents invaluable support for our daily physical well-being.
Due to the quality and applicability of their innovative device, the students who developed AirCloud have already won their regional competition and have received the Italian National “’Digital Schools of Distinction” Award launched by the MUIR, the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research.
This noteworthy project, along with many other innovative and pioneering ideas, will be present at Maker Faire Rome – the European Edition 2019, the world-famous innovative technology fair that will take place from 18 to 20 October at Fiera di Roma.
