Once thought of as a highly privileged lifestyle, the Internet of Things (IoT) has revolutionized lifestyle for even the common citizens by adding certain advantages such as energy savings, smart homes, smart transportation, pollution control, smart cities, and smart industries. IoT is truly on its way towards becoming a part of our daily lives, considering the ease and convenience provided by smart home devices. The global economy for smart home automation systems is poised to cross the $55 billion mark by 2022.
A smart home automation system allows you to manage and control the devices and appliances in your home using mobile apps and by making use of voice commands or hand gestures. By integrating IoT with home automation, you can now get rid of those mobile apps and even refrain from making hand gestures or delivering voice commands. Now IoT can help your smart devices figure things out for themselves and give you a truly relaxing environment in your home.
Some of the key areas where IoT can become a part of home automation are:
Lighting Systems – Smart lighting systems are in huge demand and these devices can change their luminosity in addition to being scheduled for turning on and off. IoT can take the automation of smart lighting systems to an altogether new level of amazing with certain features such as response to home theater systems by increasing or decreasing the brightness based on the movie genre.
Home Routines – Home routines can be easily managed using IoT devices. For example, a voice assistant can control home appliances, alarms, and thermostats, and smart alarms can be made to play certain music tracks for a specific time/activity during the day. Other possibilities include the opening of the shutters as soon as your alarm goes off in the morning, heating of water in the geyser just before you want to take a shower, and playing the morning news before you leave for your workplace.
Windows and Doors – Windows and doors can be made to respond to movements and gestures with the implementation of the internet of things. They can be opened and closed based on the proximity of the person or the time of the day. Windows can even be programmed so that they close automatically during a spell of rain. Even facial recognition can be used as a door lock/unlock mechanism.
Gardens and Outdoors – Gardens and outdoor settings in a house can be made smarter using IoT devices. For example, the outdoor lighting can be made to switch on at dusk and switch off at dawn, or the garden sprinkler system can be made to turn on as soon as sensors detect the reduction in soil moisture of your garden.
Thermostat – Thermostat devices today can be controlled using mobile apps. But it is almost a certainty that in the coming future, these devices can be made to identify your proximity to your home and accordingly regulate the temperature inside the house before your arrival or when you are indulging in activities such as exercising, leisure, or showering.
As discussed above, it is quite evident that some of the proposed solutions will take time to become a highly integrated part of our lives. But it is certain that with time, the barriers remaining in the way of widespread adoption of IoT-based Residential Automation Control systems will get removed. Cost and privacy are the two major concerns that will decide the eventual fate of this technological ingenuity. With the rapid pace of advancement in technical research and development, there are just a few limitations that remain from the technical perspective. Once these are resolved, IoT will be seamlessly integrated with home automation systems.
