Is your clock-face cozie? A smartwatch methodology for the in-situ collection of occupant comfort data

Abstract

Labelled human comfort data can be a valuable resource in optimising the built environment, and improving the wellbeing of individual occupants. The acquisition of labelled data however remains a challenge. This paper presents a methodology for the collection of in-situ occupant feedback data using a Fitbit smartwatch. The clock-face application cozie can be downloaded free-of-charge on the Fitbit store and tailored to fit a range of occupant comfort related experiments. In the initial trial of the app, fifteen users were given a smartwatch for one month and were prompted to give feedback on their thermal preferences. In one month, with minimal administrative overhead, 1460 labelled responses were collected. This paper demonstrates how these large data sets of human feedback can be analysed to reveal a range of results from building anomalies, occupant behaviour, occupant personality clustering, and general feedback related to the building. The paper also discusses limitations in the approach and the next phase of design of the platform.

Building Impulse Toolkit (BIT): A novel IoT system for capturing the influence of façades on occupant perception and occupant-façade interaction

“…However, the frequent use of mobile apps could become a source of distraction in the workplace. Similarly to mobile-app devices, smart watches have also been used for longitudinal studies [19]. Lastly, physical survey interfaces or polling stations for gathering occupant feedback in longitudinal studies has also been proposed in previous studies.…”

“…Furthermore, achieving the high levels of data granularity in time and space in a cost effective and human-centred manner could lead to the development of a new generation of smart building technologies [13], because the appropriate actuation of the smart building technology is inextricably linked to the quality of the data that is used to trigger the actuation. Internet of Things (IoT) solutions have recently provided useful low-cost means for gathering Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) data [14][15][16] and occupant feedback [11,[17][18][19][20][21] since they enable a higher frequency and less-intrusive data collection over relatively long monitoring periods.…”

Outdoor thermal comfort assessment: A review on thermal comfort research in Australia

“…The lack of such studies is possibly due to the cost and difficulty to measure physiological variables in transient outdoor environment. Recently, the University of New South Wales researchers from Project Coolbit has combined physiological measurement from Fitbit and thermal comfort survey to assess spatio-temporal distribution of outdoor thermal comfort [101,102].…”

Introducing IEA EBC annex 79: Key challenges and opportunities in the field of occupant-centric building design and operation

“…Subjective indoor comfort information can be collected either actively through asking occupants what they want or by passively observing behavior that indicates discomfort. Several new active methods are emerging through the use of mobile [113] and wearable applications [114] to crowd-source comfort feedback that can be used for control. New passive techniques are emerging from adaptive behaviors such as occupant interactions with the building interfaces, e.g., thermostats or light switches.…”