Research Unit

Core HomeLab

Acronym
HomeLab
Duration
01 February 2026 → Ongoing
Scientific supervisor
Core Facilities manager
Research disciplines
  • Natural sciences
    • Communication networks
    • Computer system security
    • Cryptography, privacy and security
    • Embedded and real-time systems
    • Cloud computing
    • Distributed systems
    • Ubiquitous computing
    • Health informatics
    • Knowledge management
    • Data models
    • Visual data analysis
    • Computer vision
    • Human-computer interaction
    • Virtual reality and related simulation
  • Humanities and the arts
    • Interaction design
  • Medical and health sciences
    • Family care
    • In-home medical nursing
  • Engineering and technology
    • Building physics
    • Energy in buildings and built environments
    • Sustainable buildings and cities
    • Wireless communication and positioning systems
    • Smart sensors
    • Human-centred and life-like robotics
    • Mobile and distributed robotics
    • Robot manipulation and interfaces
    • Sensing, estimation and actuating
Keywords
IoT Home Automation (Semantic) data models AI Cloud-Edge Continuum Indoor Localization Cyber-security Predictive Maintenance VR/AR/XR (Wireless) Communication Brainstorming Pre-Pilot Testing Home Energy Management Humanoid Robots Prototype Testing Human-Technology Interaction Smart home Assisted Living Audio & Video Social Robotics Motion Capture
Description
HomeLab is managed by research group IDLab and is a joint initiative of Ghent University and imec. It is a unique residential test and co-innovation environment for smart home services. It is both a lab and a real two-story house in which people can live temporarily to test and co-create IoT & AI services. It supports innovation from brainstorming, over early proof-of-concept testing to pre-pilot testing in a real living environment for a variety of application domains, such as home automation, health & care, energy, social robotics, audio & video, AR/VR, predictive maintenance, etc. Technical corridors, hollow floors and ceilings allow to add and hide new devices and prototypes ensuring a natural interaction with the services under development and test. An extensive sensor infrastructure captures relevant context information (temperature, air quality, energy consumption, user presence, etc.) supporting in-depth analyses of the performed experiments. Via an open home automation system all functional elements (HVAC, blinds, curtains, switches, doors, windows, etc.) can be controlled and monitored. All captured sensor and actuator data are stored in a scalable and secure data platform providing access to real-time and historical data. HomeLab further contains several social robots, a VR setup, commercial voice interfaces (Alexa / Google Home), solar panels, a home battery, a remotely controllable heat pump and a Mocap motion tracking system.