7 Smart home automation use-case scenarios in an IoT world.

What is a smart home?

It’s a fully connected household environment that provides its residents with an unprecedented level of control and comfort. The main purpose of smart home IoT devices is to simplify your home life, make it safer and more convenient.

In 2021, the concept of smart home automation implies much more than just remote control and automation. IoT, along with emerging technologies like AI, has opened up possibilities in home automation.

Today, a smart home lives to exceed consumers’ expectations. It learns about your habits, your favourite music, room temperature, wake up timings and determine consumption patterns. These insights help provide a personalized experience at your homes.

They can be easily controlled via a smartphone app, so we don’t have to worry about our home security even when we are not there.

Let’s look at the most popular ways to use Smart home IoT technologies in your home and understand what the benefits look like.

Home Automation Application and Use cases

Lighting

Today, the most widely used smart home application is home lighting. Most people know of tunable lighting that can change between warm and bright with different colour hues that suit your mood & requirement.

But let’s check a few other use case scenarios for smart lights.

1. As you enter your home, lights can turn on automatically without the necessity to press a button. (This can also work as a safety feature to detect intrusions)
2. The opposite is also possible as you leave your home; the system can turn the lights off automatically, thereby saving energy.
3. Home theatre enthusiasts can have the lights programmed to automatically dim while watching a movie to provide the best viewing experience.
4. Your light can turn on when your alarm rings in the morning, waking the whole household up if need be.
5. All smart lighting in your home can be connected to your smartphone and other connected devices and can be voice-controlled.

Kitchen

Smart home automation devices can make the cooking process safer and convenient too.

Internet of things, IoT , smart home, kitchen, network connect concept. Human hand holding white phone, smart home application to count power usage application and wifi icon with kitchen background

1. It can turn on the lights or play soothing music when you enter the kitchen in the morning to prepare that hot, steaming cup of morning chai.
2. Smart sensors can check for gas leaks, smokes, water leakages and turn off the power in the house if the indicators are outside the optimum range.
3. Appliances can be controlled through voice-activated devices. You can ask Alexa to pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees while you prep your cake.

Safety and Security Systems

Safety sensors identify anything wrong at your home. They can notify home users of any overlooked like an appliance left on or any potential threats immediately and even trigger necessary action to prevent them.

1. Proximity, motion & video sensors can identify if a burglar makes an attempt to break into your home and automatically turn on the panic alarm, lights and call the police.
2. No more doubts or double checks on whether the doors and windows were closed or if that motor or heater are off? Smart home users can check their home state remotely through the app on their phones and control pretty much everything at home.
3. While locking the door, you can set controllers to automatically close the curtains, turn off devices and ensure your home is protected against any trespassers.
4. You can monitor your elderly relatives and automate things remotely for them if needed.

Bathrooms

IoT technologies in the bathroom can help in power and energy savings with convenience.

1. With smart home automation, you can set your geysers to automatically turn on and off at a preset pattern basis your shower routine.
2. This also helps make your home energy efficient by eliminating the unnecessary functioning of high power-consuming home appliances like geysers, heaters, ACs.

Gardens

A smart home can be exceptionally beneficial for those plant lovers interested in growing vegetables, fruit, herbs, and indoor plants at home.

1. The technology allows users to check if the plant is adequately hydrated and receiving the necessary amount of sunlight.
2. You can monitor your plant and turn on your smart irrigation system when needed. You can control and stop the watering system, thus optimizing water usage
3. Smart home IoT technology has led to a real breakthrough in gardening, which will completely remodel the traditional approach to growing plants.

Temperature Control

With temperature control automation, you can optimize your ACs to provide the best experience while being energy efficient.

1. For instance, users can turn on their bedroom ACs as they drive from the office to enjoy a cool room once home after a tiring day.
2. You can configure the bedroom AC with your geyser times, so once you step out from your bath, the room is ready for you.
3. You can set the ACs to function based on the room temperature while you sleep at night. So you are neither cold nor hot and get a good nights sleep.

Doors

We can safely assume the doors of our future will not need keys. Digital locks are safe and can be set to initiate a sequence of other devices in your home.

1. For instance, a door open can follow a customized sequence of actions like the light switching on; inside doors unlocked, and music and ACs are turned on.
2. The entry door digital lock can identify who opened the door when. With custom entry assigned for each individual, you can know when your kids, your hubby, or your maid reached home through notifications on your smartphones.

Retro-fit

The most significant advantage of eGlu smart home solutions is that the patented products are retro-fit, which means:

1. It is easily fittable to existing homes & electrical systems without any rewiring required.
2. Scalable to new and existing homes — so you can do only a part of the home initially and extend to the rest of the house at a later stage.
3. Applicable for residential & commercial buildings

Conclusion

Without a doubt, home automation can significantly improve our quality of life and make our homes safer places.

The cost could still be a barrier to entry for most Indian middle-class families. The wider adoption of the tech leading to economies of scale would reduce this barrier further. eGlu has devised affordable packages for the home user to onboard the smart home experience.

The other dependability is a strong home wi-fi network. You need to have a good broadband connection in your home to fully utilize the smart home IoT life.

But for those for whom the above are not a concern, you should transform your home into a smart home today.

Check out any smart home providers to know more custom possibilities of smart homes.

The author is a digital consultant working with SME clients across categories.

This content is republished from his website roycegeorge.in