Heating in human-HVAC interaction for smart homes: An interdisciplinary overview

Delong Korus-Du; Gunnar Stevens; Alexander Boden; Lenneke Kuijer; Apostolos K. Vavouris; Md Shajalal; Philip Engelbutzeder; Omid Veisi; Peter Tolmie

doi:10.1016/j.buildenv.2026.115220

arXiv · 2609.23508

Heating in human-HVAC interaction for smart homes: An interdisciplinary overview

Delong Korus-Du·Gunnar Stevens·Alexander Boden·Lenneke Kuijer·Apostolos K. Vavouris·Md Shajalal·Philip Engelbutzeder·Omid Veisi·Peter Tolmie

View original source ↗Read source document ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

As part of HVAC systems, residential heating provides foundational infrastructure for human habitation in cold weather. However, research on how residents interact with HVAC systems, particularly heating systems, remains fragmented across architecture, engineering, informatics, physiology, psychology, sociology, and design. Based on 541 studies from these fields, this review integrates interdisciplinary research on Heating in Human-HVAC Interaction in smart homes.The resulting synthesis is conceptualized through the Situated Interaction Dynamics of control and feedback between users and systems. User-initiated interactions involve monitoring past and present system performance and planning future operation, while system-initiated interactions rely on sensor networks to trigger automation or provide information enabling user action. These interaction dynamics connect Residents' Experience and Practices with Heating in HVAC System Mechanics. Residents' Experience and Practices include thermal comfort and energy management, where thermal comfort involves both individual physiological and psychological experiences of indoor climate and social practices shaped by norms, empathy, and negotiation among cohabitants. Heating in HVAC System Mechanics includes thermal conditions and energy performance. Thermal conditions concern the regulation of air temperature, mean radiant temperature, air velocity, and relative humidity, while energy performance concerns efficiency and environmental impact. This overview highlights four interdisciplinary tensions: sensed versus lived conditions, personalization versus negotiation, efficiency versus health, and automation versus agency. The resulting framework offers a conceptual lens to interpret heating interactions and design Human-HVAC Interaction that balances IEQ-driven healthy thermal conditions, affordability, and sustainability.

Explore related subjects

cs.HC cs.AI cs.SI cs.SY eess.SY

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeX RIS

Delong Korus-Du, Gunnar Stevens, Alexander Boden, Lenneke Kuijer, Apostolos K. Vavouris, Md Shajalal, Philip Engelbutzeder, Omid Veisi, Peter Tolmie. 2026-09-20. Heating in human-HVAC interaction for smart homes: An interdisciplinary overview. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2026.115220

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

arXiv2026

TrialCompass: Visual Analytics for Enhancing the Eligibility Criteria Design of Clinical Trials

Eligibility criteria play a critical role in clinical trials by determining the target patient population, which significantly influences the outcomes of medical interventions. However, current approaches for designing eligibility criteria have limitations to support interactive exploration of the large space of eligibility criteria. They also ignore incorporating detailed characteristics from the original electronic health record (EHR) data for criteria refinement. To address these limitations, we proposed TrialCompass, a visual analytics system integrating a novel workflow, which can empower clinicians to iteratively explore the vast space of eligibility criteria through knowledge-driven and outcome-driven approaches. TrialCompass supports history-tracking to help clinicians trace the evolution of their adjustments and decisions when exploring various forms of data (i.e., eligibility criteria, outcome metrics, and detailed characteristics of original EHR data) through these two approaches. This feature can help clinicians comprehend the impact of eligibility criteria on outcome metrics and patient characteristics, which facilitates systematic refinement of eligibility criteria. Using a real-world dataset, we demonstrated the effectiveness of TrialCompass in providing insights into designing eligibility criteria for septic shock and sepsis-associated acute kidney injury. We also discussed the research prospects of applying visual analytics to clinical trials.

cs.HC↗

arXiv2026

PRIMMDebug: Teaching Secondary School Students a Reflective Approach to Debugging

Debugging is a challenging and infuriating experience for many secondary school students learning their first text-based programming language. One frequent problem is the lack of reflection in students' debugging strategies, which makes error resolution unlikely and teacher reliance common. Tools that encourage more reflective and teacher-independent debugging may foster more success with fixing errors, but are lacking. This paper presents PRIMMDebug, an approach for teaching the debugging process to secondary school students. PRIMMDebug consists of an online tool that takes students through the steps of a pedagogical process based on PRIMM, a framework for teaching programming. The tool encourages written articulation throughout the debugging process and limits students' ability to run and edit code at certain stages. A classroom study with PRIMMDebug found a general reluctance among students to engage with the reflection it promotes, despite teachers appreciating this emphasis on reflection. We end by suggesting three considerations for future pedagogical debugging research and tooling: balance structure and flexibility, teach shorter debugging heuristics, and use tooling early on in students' programming journey.

cs.HC↗

arXiv2026

Mirror Skin: In Situ Visualization of Robot Touch Intent on Robotic Skin

Effective communication of robot touch intent is essential for safe and predictable physical human-robot interaction. While intent communication has been widely studied, existing approaches lack the spatial specificity and semantic depth necessary to efficiently convey robot touch intent. We present Mirror Skin, a cephalopod inspired concept that mirrors in-situ visual representations of a human's body parts onto the corresponding robot's touch region to communicate who shall initiate touch, where it will occur, and when it is imminent. We informed the design of Mirror Skin through a structured design exploration with experts and demonstrate the real-world feasibility of Mirror Skin with a proof-of-concept prototype. User studies in VR and with the physical prototype showed that Mirror Skin significantly improves accuracy and response times for interpreting touch intent and improves the user experience during physical human-robot interactions.

cs.HC↗