"Sorry, did you hear that?" asks computer scientist Dorothy Monekosso, as the all-too-familiar voice of Amazon's Alexa resonates in the background of our phone call with her placid, "Sorry, I'm having trouble understanding."  

Monekosso was describing a new project she is working on with a colleague, to use Alexa to support independent living for elderly people. "Whenever I describe these projects, I have to speak quietly, because every room in my house has got sensors in it," explains the scientist.  

One time, she remembers, her TV accidentally sparked a house-wide conversation between different devices that mistakenly thought that she was the one giving out orders. "I was rolling on the floor laughing," says Monekosso. "If you ever get the chance, try getting Alexa and Siri talking to each other. It's hilarious." 

SEE: IoT: Major threats and security tips for devices (free PDF)[1] (TechRepublic)

On top of making her home smarter, voice assistants also lie at the heart of the scientist's research.  

Earlier this year, Monekosso was awarded an Honorary Fellowship[2] by the British Computer Society (BCS), the Chartered Institute for IT in the UK, for her work on smart homes for people living with dementia – joining a prestigious list of game-changing scientists that include, among others, World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee.   

"I got interested in those kinds of systems, because I started thinking about what we could use them for, apart from geeky people like myself who have lots of sensors in their home," says Monekosso. "It became clear that there were applications to support people with cognitive or physical problems, who need to live independently at home." 

With the idea of building homes that can look after their owners, Monekosso's research focuses on fitting every possible appliance with a

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