AI is making the Connected Home much better

Sanket Sarang

Published in

World AI

7 min readOct 27, 2019

A wise man once said,

You can’t marry a stranger. You have to know her, love her then marry her.

So let’s first start with familiarising ourselves with the terms Artificial Intelligence and Connected Home.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) in simple terms is the use of machines to perform human tasks. The machines simulate human reasoning, learning and self-correction processes. After reasonable training, they mimic human like behaviour to perform tasks as humans would.

Connected Home, also known as smart home, uses wireless network interconnected-devices to monitor and manage activities around the house.

So how is AI making the connected home better?

Security and Danger Counter

Security cameras have made it easier to monitor your home from anywhere, anytime. Free or paid apps such as AtHome Camera Surveillance App, Manything, Security Cam, among others enable you to monitor your home using a smartphone, tablet or laptop. The apps record and save files on detection of any motion in the camera frame, thereby making it easy to quickly browser through all activity around your house, and address any that is seemingly of concern. The recording of such activity can be shared with law enforcement authorities for further investigation. In addition voice talks in these apps allow you to talk away strangers, give commands or even talk to your pets. All of this can be done remotely even when you are half way around the globe.

Internet of Things (IoT) motion detectors can be configured to automatically sound alarms and communicate to the homeowners of potential risk to their homes. In case of emergencies, the system does not wait for the homeowner to respond to such an emergency, in fact it can go ahead and call the local police station or fire authority on its own depending on the nature of the emergency. A facial recognition component allows the differentiation between a member of the family and a burglar. This is possible through analyzed patterns and uploaded images of the allowed persons. In addition some systems support remote unlocking of the doors. So if your brother was to show up at your house while you were not around, you could remotely unlock the door for him.

Smart locks that use fingerprint or facial recognition are the most effective means of preventing forced entries. Unlike a key or access card that can be stolen, body feature recognition cannot be easily forged or duplicated.

These connected home systems also offer several safety features. At times leaving the coffee brewer on or forgetting to turn of the gas can be dangerous and potentially disastrous. Several sensors fitted into the house such as water leakage sensors, carbon monoxide sensors and smoke detectors, can allow notifying the emergency services on a timely manner to minimise damages.

Cost and Energy Saving

Have you ever received a bill and had to cross-check the address? The era of shocking bills is over because AI has you covered. Internet of Things enables interconnected devices to share information. This means your phone can automatically inform your home that you are not at home anymore. Leaving the fridge, lights, or air conditioner turned on can increase the energy bill. The home can take a decision of automatically turning off these appliances when not being used. The setup is also smart enough to turn off the refrigerator for only such duration that the ice creme does not melt.

The Nest is an AI-powered smart home appliance used to control the temperature. Nest understands how the home owner is adjusting the temperature on a daily basis and across seasons. It learns from human inputs and automatically starts changing the temperature based on owners comfort. For example, if a homeowner has a tendency of raising the temperature when inside the house and lower or turnoff when away, Nest learns these behavioural patterns and automatically adjusts the temperature as per the occupants preference. It also recommends, reminds or automatically turns off the lights when the homeowners leave the house, thereby resulting in energy savings.

In addition to power saving appliances, the ability to remotely monitor the house saves cost as otherwise one would have to hire a security guard or have a housekeeper.

Convenience

The use of technology in homes has made it easier for the elderly and disabled to live without the need for a caregiver. With mobile applications, sensors, voice commands, and automated garage doors one can brew coffee, open curtains, set AC temperatures, let in a guest or turn on some music at the comfort of their bed.

AI is offering quick solutions to our daily problems. Imagine having to go to a meeting but at the same time, you need your leaking toilet bowl fixed. With keyless locks, security cameras and a programmed robot, you do not need to be physically there to have the plumber fix your problem. You can let in the plumber, monitor work progress, guide him through the house using the robot and lock the door after he has left. You can even pay the plumber through an escrow service.

Comfort and Peace of Mind

Monitoring your house, a sleeping baby or your kids playing outside from anywhere in your house gives you peace of mind and saves you the trouble of having to run out every minute to check.

What can be more peaceful than knowing you can have your groceries delivered at your door by a single tap on your smartphone? In fact some devices are even smarter and can order the groceries on their own. With the Internet of Things and Chatbots, your refrigerator can detect that you are running out of specific vegetables. It can engage a chatbot to have a conversation with the local grocery store and automatically place an order for the food who’s supplies are running low.

Personal Assistant

A popular personal assessment from Apple is called Siri. Siri is voice-activated to allow you to give commands like text someone, call, get information or directions, manage time, and also serve a reminder for events or activities saved on your calendar.

The use of robots in homes is still in infancy but they are very effective as the perfect personal assistants. Robots performing specific tasks such as automated house cleaning vacuum, lawn mowing or pool cleaning can be quite effective. They can even be programmed to run at specific time, like vacuum the house when no one is in it.

The robots can also be used to welcome your guests, carry their luggage like in hotels and give them directions around the house.

The use of robots has also infiltrated daycares. They raise and take care of our kids while we are not around. An example is AvatarMind iPal that is not only an assistant but a caregiver, friend, playmate, and companion.

Entertainment

Our favourite in-home entertainment systems are already intelligent. Whether it is Netflix, Amazon Prime, Spotify, they understand what we like and recommend new audio and video content that we might like. They use AI to deliver such recommendations and are extremely accurate with the same.

Music systems such as Apple HomePod, use AI to deliver the best spacial sound experience in our homes. Just 2 HomePod speakers, can create a mesmerising audio experience, equivalent to that of a 6 speaker home theatre system.

Entertainment is key to creating a personal satisfaction from any connected home. We all love to watch television and listen to music. Each has to be perfectly tuned to our moods. These systems are getting smarter by the day of giving us the best in content recommendations and viewing experiences. Connected home devices today can automatically dim the lights in the room when you start watching your favourite show on Netflix. Even so, it can gently turn on the lights when you pause and turn them back off when you resume playing.

In addition to security, convenience and energy saving, a connected home must offer entertainment to its occupants, and that too should be personalised to each occupants unique tastes.

Conclusion

Imagine coming home, the garage door opening and closing automatically, being greeted and welcomed, lights switching on, curtains closing, finding a ready cup of coffee, having a personal assistant helping you with your luggage, a clean fresh smelling house with the right atmosphere, your favorite music playlist on and a bathtub full of warm water waiting for you.

Yes, all that is no longer a fantasy or a dream. With AI life is safer and simpler. Well, now stop imagining and get AI in your smart home for a better life because the future is automation; and it is already here.