How does it look like when you walk into your current home? For me it’s like this: First, I have to dig into in my bag to search for my key, which is probably hiding somewhere in the bottom of my bag (if I’m lucky enough to not forget about it this morning). After I finally find the key, I can open the door by inserting the key into the keyhole. Then I would have to find the light switch in the dark in order to turn on the lights in the corridor. Well, because the heating is turned off when I left home, I will have to walk to the heater too to turn it on and suffer in the cold for at least 20 minutes until the heater starts to work. Later in the evening, after my daily Facebook session, my eyes start to become tired and I would love to sleep immediately without having to get out of my bed to turn off the lights at the other end of my room.
Sounds inconvenient and frustrating right? This is how I and perhaps many of you are experiencing every single day. These inconveniences that we experience is actually not a big matter, but what would stop you from making your life easier, less stressful and perhaps makes your home a real heaven to relax after a long tiring day of studying/ working?
Imagine this: Instead of having to remember to bring your key and going through all the hassle and stress moments while searching for your key, you simply use your fingerprint to unlock the door. The lights in your house will automatically switched on once you tell it do so. (Simply say the commands out loud: e.g. “Turn on the lights in the living room”) The best thing? Your heater already warmed up your home for you because you set a timer through your mobile phone before going back home from universities/ work.
What I just described is really the basic of the basic of what current smart home appliances can do. When fully implemented, your whole house will become a home network, which will connect all smart appliances together. To illustrate, with proper settings, you can set up a wake up mode. Let’s say at 7am. You alarm would went off at 7am and your curtain will open by itself. Your coffee machine would already start grinding coffee beans and start preparing you a cup of freshly brewed coffee. At the same time, your smart toast appliance would toast your bread so that your coffee and toast would be ready at the same time. Your fridge will pop up a notification to tell you that you are almost out of milk and you can just simply ask your home assistant, Amazon Echo or Alexa for instance, to add milk on your grocery list. When you leave the house, your heater will be automatically switched off and your vacuum robot will start cleaning the house.
In the near future, AI and Machine Learning would broaden the opportunities of smart home development. It might be able to watch over your health for example, and send life alert to hospitals if necessary.
References:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2017/03/13/7-predictions-on-the-next-smart-home-innovation/#10d9b53b2e78https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2017/06/06/best-smart-home-devices-and-how-iot-is-changing-the-way-we-live/#3adafaff43bdhttps://www.forbes.com/sites/paullamkin/2017/04/19/the-top-smart-home-tech-you-never-knew-existed/#2c0e7ce146c5
