Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Jun 2, 2024
Date Accepted: Apr 3, 2025
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
A Two-Decade Journey of Evolution in Smart Homes: A Systematic Review and Thematic Analysis on Health and User-Centric Innovations
ABSTRACT
Background:
The smart home industry, powered by AI and IoT, has grown significantly, with market size expected to double by 2026. Academic projects like Georgia Tech's Aware home have enhanced our understanding of smart home technologies. However, current research often focuses narrowly on technology. This study aims to broaden the perspective by reviewing two decades of smart home literature using bibliometric analysis and thematic analysis, to better align future research with evolving user needs and market trends.
Objective:
This study analyzes smart home trends from 2000 to 2023 using bibliometric and thematic analysis to understand broader industry trends. It examines technological advances, service innovations, and shifts in user demands, aiming to inform future research and industry developments.
Methods:
The analysis is conducted in four steps: data collection from Web of Science, gathering 5,983 abstracts from 2000 to 2023.1H; data pre-processing and refinement; topic modelling of 1,003 selected articles; and combined bibliometric network analysis and qualitative in-depth analysis for interpretation.
Results:
This study reviews 1,003 articles on smart homes, highlighting advancements in technology, applications, and user-centric research over 20 years. It notes a shift from IoT and AI in basic functions to broader uses in energy management and healthcare, with a focus transitioning from affluent early adopters to more inclusive support for vulnerable groups. This evolution indicates a significant paradigm shift in the smart home sector, affecting future technology and service development.
Conclusions:
The results of this research provide significant academic and practical insights by offering a comprehensive overview of the smart home domain’s evolution over the past twenty years, highlighting the shift from a technology-centric to a user-centric approach. This shift enhances academic understanding and opens new commercial opportunities, particularly in healthcare, focusing on user satisfaction and quality of life, paving the way for future real-world solutions.
Citation
Request queued. Please wait while the file is being generated. It may take some time.
Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.