Information technology is increasingly becoming an integral part of contemporary life. Most tasks that are performed over the course of a day, involve the use of different types of connected devices. About two billion contemporary consumers use smartphones [1]. These smartphones contain a variety of sensors that can collect information about their users such as their mobility patterns, daily activities and occupancy patterns [2]. Meanwhile other technologies such as electrical power usage are becoming increasingly "connected" through use of "smart plugs". Occupancy is an important aspect in developing responsive environments and for optimizing building performance. This work investigates the extent to which smartphones can be used to collect occupancy data in a work environment, compared to another method that uses smart power outlets for collecting occupancy data and validated against diary entries, which are recorded manually by participants each time they change their occupancy state.

We live in the information age, where many tasks are automated and many jobs are performed by machines. There has been a certain amount of fear about the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and cognitive computing and its impact on traditional careers, but these developments are good news for people with disabilities. Elderly people who have lost some of their cognitive capabilities, and those who have lifelong intellectual disabilities (ID) can avail of AI to become more independent and enjoy the same conveniences as the rest of society. Of course, this relies on making such systems accessible for this vulnerable group of users. Existing research has considered aids for activities of daily living including wayfinding for helping with commuting for ID service users. This work seeks to produce an assistive technology that supports people with intellectual impairment in the preparations for leaving an indoor space so that they may do so independently with only minimum interventions from the family or the caregiver.