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EDF R&D · Energy

Talk to your house and be understood.

In the home of the future at EDF R&D, the research arm of the French electricity company, the home automation agent we designed runs locally. One sentence is enough for it to understand what is meant and act on the equipment it has been given control of.

Exploded drawing of a house, with the roof and the two floors pulled apart and several rooms lit.

Try saying

    Talking without naming a device

    In “It’s cold in the living room”, there is no thermostat, no setpoint, not even a command. Yet everyone understands what needs to be done.

    In a connected home, you usually go through one app per brand, one screen per function and routines set up in advance. Here, the agent knows the rooms, the equipment and their state. It reads the sentence, works out what the person wants, then acts. If it is unsure, it asks them.

    You can also ask the house what it has just done.

    In the sentence “It’s cold in the living room”, the word “cold” leads to a temperature, the words “living room” lead to a room on the plan, and the two meet at that room’s radiator. It’s cold in the living room 19 °C living room the living room goes up to 21 °C
    From the meaning of the sentence, the model links the words to a room, to a state, then to a piece of equipment.

    The meter measures consumption; the sentence explains it.

    A consumption curve over one day, from noon to noon. Above each change, the sentence that explains it. WHY HOW MUCH “We’re coming home.” “It’s cold in the living room.” “Charge the car overnight.” “We’re away for two days.” noon6 pmmidnight6 amnoon A consumption curve over one day, with the sentence that explains each change above it. WHY HOW MUCH “We’re coming home.” “It’s cold in the living room.” “Charge the car overnight.” “We’re away for two days.” noonmidnightnoon

    What a home consumes can be measured minute by minute, but far less is known about what the people living there are doing at that moment: coming home, feeling cold, or leaving for two days. When they talk to the house, their words give, at that same moment, the reason for what the meter records.

    These exchanges also make experiments possible. What happens if the house suggests shifting a charging session and the occupant says yes, no, or not tonight? What do they actually say when they talk about their comfort? A test laboratory can now study these questions, and every command is logged.

    More comfort without giving up privacy

    You put your request in one sentence, and the house takes care of it. What you say in a room stays within its walls: even when the internet connection is cut, the house keeps answering.

    For a trial, this keeps conditions the same from one week to the next: nobody elsewhere updates the model while measurements are being taken.

    A cross-section of a house. Inside, a loop connects the voice, the model and the equipment. The link to the outside is cut, and the loop keeps running. the voice the model the equipment internet
    The loop keeps running with the link cut.

    EDF R&D is preparing the homes of the future in this house

    In France, the residential sector accounts for 25% of primary energy consumption and 15% of greenhouse gas emissions. To work on this, EDF R&D built a laboratory in the form of a detached house: the Maison Connectée Bas Carbone (Low Carbon Smart Home), at its Les Renardières site in Seine-et-Marne, south-east of Paris.

    In the house, teams have photovoltaic panels, an EV charging point, batteries and many sensors at their disposal. There they develop the low-carbon technologies that will equip the homes of the future.

    EDF R&D

    The largest R&D division of any energy company in the world, according to EDF.

    • 1,860 employees in France
    • 9 research centres
    • More than 70 test platforms

    EDF Lab Les Renardières

    Its largest centre, devoted since 1964 to experimental research on electricity, with test facilities, some of them unique in the world. Tests carried out here from 1965 onwards helped define today’s French electricity grid.

    • 85 hectares
    • More than 40 laboratories

    Maison Connectée Bas Carbone

    Built in 2015, this 100 m² house is typical of new-build homes.

    Voice interaction

    Here, teams test how the occupants interact with the devices in the house, particularly by voice.

    Facts and figures published by EDF on edf.fr; headcount as of 2024.
    Line drawing of a neighbourhood: a wave spreads out from the centre and the roofs light up as it passes.

    What if the whole street answered?

    On a bitterly cold evening, everyone turns up the heating at the same time and the electricity grid nears its limit. A house that understands can say what it is willing to put off for an hour or two: charging the car, the water heater, a degree of heating in an empty room. Across a whole street, each building could be asked the same question, and the answers would take account of the people who live there.