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What is a Smart Home?
2019 is the year of Internet of Things (IoT). But if you ask people around you, not many people know what IoT is, and âSmart Homeâ is just another buzzword floating on our minds along with âAIâ. How can Smart Home revolutionize our daily lives?
Smart Home is all about using technologies to bring convenience to your household. It can be summarized into two features:
1. Remote Control
Did I turn my lights off when I left home? Would you want to set up an alarm system and cameras to monitor your house when you are on vacation? Or you want to warm up your house before you get back home?
Everything is in your hands. You can check the status of your lights on your smartphone, turn them on/off if you want to, check the cameras to see if your children are alright, turn the heaters on on your way home. Even when youâre at home, just issue voice commands and the curtains will be drawn.
The idea of remote control is not novel. Think about how we switch channels on TV, and how we turn on an air conditioner. But you no longer need to worry about not having your sent infrared signal blocked, as the new generation of remote control relies on more cutting-edge communication protocols (Zigbee, Z-wave etc.) where signals can penetrate walls and even international borders.
Photo by Diz Play on Unsplash2. Automation
You want to have a coffee brewed and ready every morning? Have your heater turned off automatically when it is too hot? Get notified when there are intruders inside your apartment?
We want to have things done when a certain criteria are satisfied. We want to set rules such that you donât need to constantly monitor everything. All we need is customized automation that suits our own need, and this is not a new concept either. You can set internet downtime in your router such that your kids canât play online games at midnight. You can schedule a time in your TV to record your favourite programme.
It is no longer limited to only a few electrical appliances. You can turn every electrical appliance and gadget to a âsmartâ one, and you can set up whatever rules and automations for all your âsmartâ things.
Photo by Tina Dawson on Unsplash
Smart Home solves problems, brings conveniences, and is fun.
How to Get Started?
If you donât know how to get started with your first ever Smart Home, youâre not alone. Although Smart Home could be a solution for a lot of problems, setting up one seems to be a hassle. Here are a few things to kickstart your smart home project:
1. Pick an Ecosystem
Imagine you have many smart lights, a thermostat, a smart lock, multiple door and window sensors, etc.. They usually come from different manufacturers, and you can technically manage each of them via each brandâs mobile application. I am sure it is not convenient to keep switching between apps, and this defies the principle of Smart Home.
Fortunately, you can sign up for an ecosystem such that smart things are centralized and you can manage them all in one place. It is important to choose one first before getting other peripheries, since not all brands of smart gadgets support all ecosystems.
Photo by Luca Bravo on Unsplash
The most popular Smart Home ecosystems are Amazon Alexa and Google Home. you can sign up by downloading their mobile applications and registering an account for free. If you are a hardcore fan, understand internet communication protocols, and love customizing and investing time into it, you might be interested in Home Assistant (no-go zone for beginners).
2. Get a Speaker Hub
But how can the system detect and communicate with other smart gadgets? You will need a hub that acts as a middle man (middle bot) between you and those gadgets. Each ecosystem has its own hub. These hubs usually come with microphones and speakers so that you can easily issue voice commands and they can react vocally.
Alexa, turn on the lights.
Hey Google, are the lights on?
Photo by Sebastian Bednarek on Unsplash3. Shopping Time!
Time to get your own smart gadgets! Make sure they are all compatible with the Smart Home ecosystem of your choice, otherwise you would have a hard time having them integrated.
There are different types of smart gadgets: lights, sensors, locks, speakers, switches, vacuum cleaners etc.. Smart sockets can make every ordinary electrical appliance smart, from your old table lamps to your TV. It is important not to buy loads of smart gadgets at the same time as it takes time to get used to each of them.
One smart thing at a time.
Photo by Thomas Kolnowski on Unsplash
Almost all Smart Home ecosystems rely on their own cloud server, and you would have to surrender your Smart Home usage data (just like using most apps and online services).
If you want to avoid that, Home Assistant provides an alternative way to implement your Smart Home on your local server or just a Raspberry Pi! Stay tuned on getting started with Home Assistant.
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Originally published at edenau.github.io.
Setup Your Smart Home in 3 Simple Steps was originally published in Hacker Noon on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
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