Smart home automation isn’t new: it’s been around since the late 80s and you’d know that it was already there what with the huge gates of mansions opening up automatically as you get close to the gates.
It’s just that home automation barely got to go mainstream earlier since it was reserved for the super-rich and wealthy.
All that is changing now. Smart home automation is anyone’s game and available for every customer now, and how.
According to a PwC Survey [https://www.pwc.co.uk/industries/power-utilities/insights/energy2020/connected-home.html], the Smart home innovation market is humongous. More than £10.9 billion was spent on smart home devices in 2019. At least 40% of the smart home product owners are expected to upgrade in 2 years.
Over 39% of new consumers enter the realm of the Smart Home Industry with smart entertainment products.
According to PwC,
“Developments in digital technology are unbundling and recombining industries, creating new markets and sources of value.”
By 2020, the PwC Megatrends predictsthat the connected home market could be worth almost US$150 billion globally.
Home automation and smart home automation is ready to hit mainstream. The obvious smart home automation products (as sampled by the PwC UK survey above) are the smart entertainment products.
The list doesn’t end there.
We now have products such as lighting powered by motion sensors; voice-controlled heating systems; automated safety and security systems; smart energy controllers and systems; and so much more.
Image Credits: PwC, UK [https://buff.ly/2RwmwTb]
The big wigs in the Industry: from Panasonic to Phillips; from LG to Samsung are all working to make a dent in the Smart home automation and Smart home security space.
While they are at it, the industry behemoths aren’t too far behind.
Google vs Apple — multi-billion-pound corporations are vying to become industry-standard for the internet of things (IoT) too. Now, what plays out in the next couple of years will draw the map for smart-home technology for generations to come.
For consumers, it only means that there’ll be a lot to choose from and at various levels. Ask Alexa for whatever you want to know (including setting up reminders while you are busy with the turkey in the oven).
Or just the following command such as “Echo, turn on Sleep In” can transform everything around you such as closing all the shades (or switching off the lights), locking the doors, starting a soothing playlist, and help you get that extra hour of rest — all at the trigger of a simple voice command.
Here’s how the connected home developments and the smart home automation products (sorted into categories) look like, at the time of writing this:
Smart Home Entertainment
Smart Televisions that not only allow you to play traditional television channels but also allow you to dig into YouTube video, Netflix, or Amazon Prime Video.
Or, you’d be able to convert any television with USB input into a smart TV as long as you have a Fire TV Stick or Chromecast.
There’s no dearth of Smart home Entertainment devices in the UK. For instance, you’d have to now think about whether you should invest in Apple’s HomeKit (comes included with Siri), Google Assistant, or Amazon’s Alexa.
But that’s not even the beginning of what smart entertainment would mean for us today.
With a home entertainment hub, a WiFi connection, and all sorts of smart home automation for entertainment enabled at home, the possibilities are endless.
As you start playing a movie, the lights can dim out by 70% or so automatically.
At the flick of a switch or on voice command, a gigantic projector screen will descend from the ceiling, lights will dim out, the shades on the windows will cover themselves over the windows, and your surround-system activates itself.
Home Comfort
Connected devices & motion sensors can bring in all sorts of comfort and convenience to consumers today.
The possibilities, you ask?
Imagine your garage door opening when it senses only “your presence” thanks to the wearables (Fitbit, custom wristbands, or an Apple Watch, etc.).
Or you could have motion sensors in rooms that can signal the automation system to switch off lights when a room has been vacant for a period of time.
Landscape lighting (including wall lights, garden lights, and the gate lights) can turn on automatically at sunset and off again at sunrise.
Smart Home Security
Apart from smart door locks, surveillance systems, and a picture of who’s standing outside the door into a miniature HD screen inside, you could get a lot more with smart home security.
Someone the door in the night? The connected home systems at home will all play up automatically. The inside cameras will rotate, focusing on the door. The area outside of the door (or the lawn) will have lights increasing luminosity by up to 75% (from a dim 20%). A video of who’s standing outside the door will temporarily display on all screens at home (including the television you were watching the movie on).
Alerts sent to your phone and wearable devices will notify you if the front door is left open for longer than five minutes or if the front gate is ajar for longer than ten.
If and when there’s a security breach, all lights in the house illuminate to 100%. Simultaneously, the front door automatically locks, every TV displays views from all surveillance cameras while recording all events — all this is in addition to a quick SMS message to the nearest police station.
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Energy Management
Usage and management of energy at home is critical for you — makes you efficient with energy consumption, usage, and the costs associated with the same (not to mention that you are a wee bit closer to being environment-friendly and green).
A smart home energy management system (EMS), allows you to control and monitor energy usage on your computer or mobile phone and helps you save energy. This is in addition to already having invested in smart home appliances, smart lights, and other hardware at home. For instance, you can instantly see how various appliances and electronic products consume energy.
By simply monitoring your EMS, you can decide if you want to switch the devices on and off.
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