Internet of Things — Wackiest Gadgets Making Home Smarter

Romi Kumar
HackerNoon.com
5 min readApr 15, 2019

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In terms of technology, we have come a long way, especially when it is about our homes and communication. No doubt communication is not the same what we had a decade back. We are about to experience 5g networks, traditional voice call is now a thing of the past and voice over internet protocol is the new best thing.

Internet turned our communication upside down, not only it made getting in touch with others easier but it also made our home smart. IoT or internet of things is now controlling every facet of the home. Even things that nobody pays more attention to is connected via internet.

IoT gives you power to control appliances at your home sitting remotely. It’s cool how you are welcomed when you enter the home, coffee starts brewing, your favorite music track playing, all with a touch of a button. But how it is making our home smart?

First, remember IoT is more than only controlling light bulb, security camera from distance. Now, you can have your house cleaned at one command given. This new reverberation caused by IoT is changing and will change the way of living in years to come. Let’s discuss what else has become a part of IoT these days.

IoT Enabled Robotic Vacuum Cleaner

It is by far one of the most useful IoT enabled gadget to have created. Cleaning is one aspect of the home that is carried on a daily basis. You don’t have to drag a heavy or compact one throughout the house, these cleaners will do so on their own just with a single command. All they require is wifi and see the house get cleaned spotlessly.

Loaded with sensors and infrared, the vacuum cleaners detect the proximity to walls and doors, causing them to slow down automatically in order to avoid a collision. And yet it doesn’t mean the corners remain unclean. A flailing brush mounted the sides take care of that without any effort. If you are thinking, these gadgets are to cost a fortune, you are mistaken as there are many manufacturers who built cheap robot vacuum cleaners.

But, the question here is, how would a robot vacuum cleaner know what places are dirty?

Among the array of sensors is a piezoelectric sensor which produces electrical impulse when particles or things strike it. So, during the cleanup round, when dirt particles strike the sensor, they produce electrical impulse. When the number of impulses is high, the system initiates the dirt detection mode and the robot cleaner retraces the path to clean it and it does so again but more slowly until every single dirt particle is removed.

At present, there are so many startups working on area and application-specific IoT enabled vacuum cleaners. Another advantage, while you are sleeping, the robots will clean all the floor given you don’t forget to schedule a cleaning. So you wake up in the morning to a tidy dirt free surrounding.

Doors That Can Be Answered From Anywhere

Now, it’s no brainer and people would say, hey! We’ve seen this a lot. Of course, even before Iot and smart doorbells, there were other means of seeing those knocking on your door. That tech wasn’t particularly dumb and was pretty dope when it was the real deal. Watching people approach your door through a camera while they would use the extension to announce their arrival.

Smart doorbells have changed it and made it even better. A process somewhat remains identical, with a camera to pass down the feed of your door on the mobile app. The doorbells are fitted with a microphone to speak, a speaker to listen, built-in security and a motion detector. You can watch the live activity from your office on a Xiaomi Mi Box and respond from there as well. This particularly unique when it comes to avoiding unnecessary communication (cheers! Introverts).

The Pet Feeder

One of the wackiest IoT devices is a pet feeder. At times this might seem a waste of resource but if you think about it more carefully, you’d know how useful it can be. Pets are loved by all and they need equal care and feeding just like any other human being. Only, you can’t take them everywhere with you. What would you do when you don’t find a babysitter for them? For more obvious reasons, you cannot leave them on their own with a full day of supply. That is where the pet feeder comes in play.

Let’s say you own a dog and you left him at home alone. When the dog barks, the pet feeder takes notice of that and sends you a push notification. You check it and see you pal from the pet feeder built-in camera. You then dispense one or two treats to him and he goes on again to be a good by that he is.

IoT is definitely the next best thing and road to future, however, what’s the use of technology if you cannot create weird and useful gadgets to use. If you’re looking to create your own set of wacky gadgets for your home, better start learning how to do electronic prototyping. Do your own research and create your products, who knows, they might be the next big things the world will talk about!

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Romi Kumar
HackerNoon.com

Curiosity has me reading the trend — Bitcoin pulled me towards crypto — Introvert (INTP) by nature — Socially awkward — A writer with always a story in mind