Smart Homes

An ordinary day packed with extra-ordinary technology

Many of us dream about a little white house close to a beach somewhere warm. If you also value time above anything else like many others today, this can’t be just any average house. As the old saying goes, “if you need to do something more than once, find a way to automate it” – this can’t be more true when it comes to building new generation smart homes today.

Waking up in a smart bedroom

Imagine an early morning when your wearable device wakes you up with a light vibration – no annoying alarm beeping noises. You are lying on your half of the smart mattress, preset to the firmness needed to support your body, slowly getting up while trying not to wake up your sleeping partner. It is now time for your morning hygiene.

Prepare the coffee while you are doing your toilette

If you’re like us, multi-tasking isn’t your strong suit in the morning. All you need to do is ask your digital assistant and your coffee will start brewing before you’ve managed to open both eyes. To save some more time, you can also ask her/him to open the blinds for you, turn the kitchen lights and heating on, display the news and weather forecast on your smart mirror, and play your favourite music as you shower. Step on the scale to find out if your healthy diet plan is producing results, which you can then review in your smartphone health app of choice.

Staring at your fridge a little too long?

We all do it and luckily manufacturers are catching on, which is why they’ve implemented a double-knock function which turns on the light in your fridge and allows you to see inside through a glass window without opening it. As you contemplate your breakfast options (or what’s available in your cool smart fridge), you can grab your freshly brewed coffee and catch the news forecast on your smart hub. The smart hub can, of course, do more than just play music and videos. It can read your emails, call your partner or find recipes for you. And in case your latest cooking experiment doesn’t go as planned, you can still book a table at your favourite restaurant just by making a voice command. Once you’re finished with your meal, ask your voice-controlled bin to open so you can dispose of the leftovers or track them using a waste-minimising app like CogZum. The bin stays open until you walk away from it. Got your hands dirty? Use your touch-free sensor soap pump and sink to clean them.

Convenient security

Some events throughout the day take place unplanned and at the most inconvenient times. The courier decides to deliver a package unannounced just as you’re getting into the shower. He rings the doorbell in the worst possible moment when you’re wearing just your birthday suit. No need to panic; simply ask your virtual assistant to preview on the bathroom flat screen display who is at the door. Turn on the microphone and ask the courier to wait or open your smart lock remotely and watch him leave the package in the hall and close the door behind him as he leaves. Using a set of cameras and fire alarms with motion sensors makes keeping your house safe and secure a breeze.

Smart everything

The Internet of Things (IoT) tech can do more than what we described above. Thanks to connected devices you can now automate and control nearly everything in your house just from your smartphone. Play music or set the temperature in any room, turn your lights on and off, change their colour and intensity. Remotely control your garage doors or security system, fire alarm and much more. The only limiting factor is the software needed to make use of the sensors, turning static units into responsive and self-aware smart devices. Every gadget is only as smart as its pre-programmed behavior – one of main considerations behind the concept of self-learning machines.

Building a smart home on a budget

Although they are gradually going down in price, these fancy smart gadgets cost money. How can you make your household or your office a little smarter without breaking the bank? A good start to a smart household is purchasing a smart hub with a few smart sockets, allowing you to control a variety of appliances, purchasing a couple of smart bulbs and/or light switches and using your phone’s digital assistant to automate tasks. And if you are keen on making your life even more convenient, you can opt for an inexpensive version of a smart assistant device, which should cost approximately €40. For the true maniacs, there is also the possibility of building your own version of a smart gadget, based on the Arduino or Raspberry Pi or hiring a developer to help you with the software programming

Copywriter: Ina Danova