Smart Homes - Is there a real solution

The Smart Home is one of the most talked about subject in recent times. With emerging technologies and IOT making the whole thing affordable it is one the fastest growing sectors in the world. Wireless, Network Based, Retrofit solutions is expanding the horizon of so called smart homes at a rapid pace. It is however a big mystery on the definition of the smart home. While the term implies making a home smarter the real solution is confined to controlling lights and curtains, some times Air Conditioners /Heaters and a few entertainment components like Televisions, amplifiers etc.

How does this makes homes smart, most people add some security components like gas leakage, door phones, integration with surveillance. A few also may provide solutions like intrusion detection integration. But it ends here, different people use different technologies, different protocols and keep doing designing and redesigning around these components. All what is sold in name of Smart home is a little comfort and a lot of hassle as most of these solutions are not user friendly, experience created by a site engineer and a delight only for a few gadget freaks.

The entire solution and the design depends on the customer size and budgets, simple homes deploy solutions which are simple and involve lesser components, others may deploy complex solution for lightings, Audio Video distribution etc, what changes is the number of sources and destinations for all components like lights, audio video zones etc. And between these components the experience varies, scheduling is used in some cases like the lights and curtain will act in a certain way at certain point of time or the occupancy and motion sensors are programmed to do certain acts.

No , these are not smart homes, they are just integrated homes. The customer does not "Need" them anymore, there is no life and no emotion in the above solution, its just a way of doing a home. It does not solve any lifestyle or last mile issues that a customer face. All the solutions are just a way to satisfy the ego of a integrator who has worked hard to learn a few things.

Smart Homes need to travel time and reach to the customer needs at faster pace. When people go to gym they should choose to to cardio or weight trainings, the integration must allow them to change room ambience and play music or videos on the display at one touch. This may be either scheduled or done when user enter the room. Another example is the wake up experience. The user should be able to customise the wake up experience as per the sleeping and waking types, like the user can tell Alexa I am sleeping now and the wake up alarm is set as per the minimum sleeping norms with lights, curtains, soothing music and the mirror TV in the bathroom spells out the days schedule for the user while he brushes or shows him the latest news. No this is not fantasy, this is a reality and this is how the smart home ought to be. The applications are being created to help the users with what they wear, to schedule and plan parties or guest visits at home, organise the personal content to Relive the memories and not just archive them in a some odd cloud. Integrators need to gear up and look for solutions that are capable of solving the issues of their customers rather than making a complicated home.