Smart Homes
Have you ever been sitting in your office and wondering if you turned off the stove at home? Worried if you set the security alarm? Are the surveillance cameras working? With the advent of smart homes, you can stop worrying of these issues.
Twenty years ago, a porch light timer would have been considered a smart home technology. Today, as the technology advances, the demand for thermostats to automatically switch to your “desired” temperature, or lights turning on and off based on the presence of the room, has increased. Smart homes mean that appliances like the clocks, lights, door bells, cameras, and hot water heaters — all these devices have the capability to communicate, send your information over the internet and also take your commands. Smart homes is exactly what it sounds like: automating the ability to control items around the house.
Most homes today already have a certain amount of “smartness” because many appliances already contain built-in sensors or electronic controllers. The washing machines have programs that make them follow a distinct series of washes, rinses and spins depending on how you set their various knobs when you first switch it on. There are robotic vacuum cleaners which crawl the floor and sweep the dust on their own.
All these appliances are a step towards smart homes, but the concept takes things a step further. In the advanced smart homes, there is a centralized controller that can monitor the state of the home and switch on or off any appliances. For example, it monitors the light levels coming through the windows and automatically raises or lowers the window blinds. It can detect movement across the floor and respond appropriately.
Some of the common smart home products are the Amazon Echo and Echo Dot, Nest Cam Outdoors for surveillance of the home, Nest Learning thermostat for controlling temperature, iRobot Roomba to clean home, etc.
This post was also published in the “Tech Jargon of the Week” column in The Campbell Express and on my blog.
