What does the “smart home of the future” bring to mind for you? For many, when they hear that phrase, they picture the home the Jetsons had in the cartoon from Hanna-Barbera. To be honest, it looks like it’ll be far more than that. Sure, we’ll have voice control over things in the house. Well, more things in the house. The thing is, it’s very likely that we’ll have much more than that.
The Smart Home of Today
The smart home of today offers promise of things to come. We can see it in the various articles here on Digital Landing about the various systems and components that are currently available. We’ve got door locks that don’t need a key, just your presence to lock and unlock. There are sprinkler controllers that communicate with a master control station and various weather services to determine when to water. There are also systems like the Sandbox Home that combine home security features with home automation and control features. The list keeps growing.
The Smart Home of the Future is Programmable
There is a website out now that many home security and home automation vendors are starting to team with to give users more granular control over their home. The site is called “If this then that” also known as IFTTT. IFTTT is a programming control statement or phrase that tells something to do something when something else has been done.
That’s confusing. Let me give you an example. I just wrote an article about a programmable piggy bank that should be published soon. It’s called Quirky Porkfolio. Users can connect their bank and cell phone to the IFTTT site so that certain actions happen. Example: Someone moves your piggy bank. You can tell the app and IFTTT website to alert you by phone if this happens. The list of applications and services that can be tied as inputs to IFTTT is growing.
Newer home automation systems are coming out that also tie in to the IFTTT site. You can write a “recipe” (if this then that statement) to have your entry lights, TV, and heater turn on when the garage door is opened or the front door unlocked. Some systems do this internally, while others give you greater range by connecting to IFTTT. The possibilities seem endless and exciting.
The Smart Home of the Future Will Be More Accessible
I’ve been installing home automation/smart home technology and systems for almost two decades. When I first started, I was going to multi-million dollar homes, because the technology was so new and extremely expensive. My customers could easily spend ten thousand dollars on a system that gave single location control over the whole house entertainment system and certain lighting systems. Nowadays, these can be controlled from a cellphone for a couple hundred bucks. As more and more companies enter the fray, the prices keep falling.
Other Predictions for the Future of the Smart Home Industry
I recently read a report from ABI Research about the future of the smart home industry. The main takeaway I have from this report is they predict the smart home/home automation market to grow to over $14.1 Bn by 2018, with most of this growth (more than eleven percent over 2012 numbers) will be in the United States.
We’ve already got home automation/smart home systems that will turn on the TV and lights when you come home. The smart home of the future is going to expand on this by making these systems smart enough to know whether you’re just dashing in and back out, or kicking back. If you’re just dashing, no need to turn everything on, but if you’re going to kick back, crank up the lights and TV! Don’t forget the AC please.
Your Home Will Be Able to Identify You When You Enter
It’s been rumored that Bill Gates built some nifty tech into his new home near Redmond. Rumor has it that when he invites you to his home, you get a RFID (radio frequency identification) tag to tell the house who you are. That’s because some of the windows and walls in the house are actually projection screens and the tags tell the control center what kind of artwork you like, and then displays that artwork.
However, I’ve heard rumors that this will become obsolete very soon. There is a wearable under development right now that will measure some of your biometric data and interact with the smart home controller. The device will monitor your body temp, heart rate, and a couple other unique attributes to ID you throughout the house, allowing the house to customize your environment for you. I prefer loud music and soft lights, so when I enter the room, Led Zeppelin will be played near max volume and the lights will dim considerably.
I could go on about my vision for the smart home of the future. I could also relate more rumors and innuendo that I’m hearing. Instead, I’m turning it over to you. What would you like to see in the future smart home? Let me know down there ↓ in the comments.
Photo Credit: Pixshark
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