A test home in Frankston lets people try assistive tech before they commit to it

A new research home in Melbourne’s south-east looks like an ordinary house. Behind the walls, sensors watch for falls. AI-enabled glasses prompt people who have trouble with memory. Life-sized robots run group rehabilitation sessions.

You can’t live there permanently. You go to try things out. The people behind it want it to help older Australians and people with disability build the confidence and skills to live at home, and to avoid going to hospital when home life stops working.

What the house does

The Independent Living Laboratory and Mobility Garden is one of six research facilities the National Centre for Healthy Ageing (NCHA) is opening in the Frankston and Mornington Peninsula region. The NCHA is a partnership between Bayside Health Peninsula and Monash University.

From the street it looks like a normal home. Inside, it has assistive technology you can actually use: life-sized robotics for group rehabilitation, AI-enabled glasses for people with memory difficulties, and detection systems that can pick up a fall or flag unusual behaviour that might mean someone needs help.

You can test the devices and see accessible housing design in practice, with clinicians, researchers and disability and aged care providers there to help. The idea is that you learn what works for you in a real home before you change anything in your own.

The other five facilities

The living lab sits alongside five other research sites, each covering a different part of the ageing and care picture:

• an Intergenerational Playground where children and adults connect through STEM activities
• Ageing Well Clinics for healthy ageing in the community
• a Smart Ward to improve patient care and experience in hospital
• a Multipurpose Research Facility for physical rehabilitation research
• a Digital Library to improve healthcare communication

Why it matters if you’re making decisions about how you live

Associate Professor Libby Callaway, from the Monash School of Primary and Allied Health Care, said many older Australians and people with disability want to be the decision-makers in how, where and who they live with. The problem is knowing where to start.

“There have been major reforms in both disability and aged care to support people to live at home rather than in institutional settings like group homes or aged care, but many people don’t know where to start,” she said. “The Independent Living Laboratory helps close that knowledge gap by letting people try, test and learn in a realistic home environment before making decisions that affect their everyday lives.”

For families and carers, that’s the practical value. You can see how a piece of technology or a design feature works before committing to it, instead of guessing.

Design as part of care

Professor Mel Dodd, Dean of the Monash Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture, said good design changes how people are cared for as they age.

“This project shows how architecture, technology and health research can come together to create co-designed environments that genuinely support independence and quality of life as people age,” she said.

“To support healthy ageing, we have to look beyond just clinical care and start looking at the lived experience of the home. We’ve created a modular environment where Monash researchers and health practitioners can rigorously test how physical layouts and digital tools interact with human behaviour in real-time.”

Professor Velandai Srikanth, Director of the NCHA, said the research could change many lives and could spread beyond Melbourne’s south-east.

“We are excited about the transformative impact these facilities will have in generating evidence to inform government, industry, education, technology and service sectors,” he said. “With industry and government partnerships, this approach could be replicated in more communities across Australia, unlocking even greater national impact.”

Who’s behind it

The NCHA gets foundational investment from the Commonwealth Department of Health, Disability and Ageing. Its stated mission is to lead change in health and care related to ageing for all Australians.

The Independent Living Laboratory had support from Building 4.0 CRC, Fleetwood Australia, Frankston City Council, St Kilda Football Club, Belvedere Community Centre and Wallara. If the evidence from the lab holds up, the model could be repeated in other parts of the country.