Smart Home Benefits

Whilst on our journey to design and build our contextual smart home we have identified many reasons why people would want one and the associated resulting benefits.

Most people arrive at smart home automation with one or two specific problems in mind that they would like to solve. These are usually quite personal and specific to their home. What we have tried to do here though is to list the many reasons and benefits, whilst trying to avoid talking about the technology and specific solutions. The smart home is not about technology but what it can do for you.

We do show some real examples from our own @smartest_home, to help explain our thinking.

Simple & Intuitive

The smart home should be about a great user experience. The best user interface to your smart home is the one that is easiest to use, given the task at hand and your current situation. This means it may also change as your circumstances change. Using a light switch makes sense when it is close by but if your hands are full it may not be a viable option. Using voice control may be the simplest method to achieve something complex but when you are watching a movie at volume in your lounge, voice control is unlikely to work well.

Our ideal smart home interface is one that is invisible and yet knows what you want to do simply by being present. This is achievable in many situations and works regardless of your personal circumstances. This zero-touch user experience is our goal in our smart home, whenever possible.

Example:  Every door in our home is connected via an invisible door contact sensor, which helps ensure most lights just instantly work around you. As you open the door into a dark room, it can be lit instantly.

Whatever the interface being used (touch screen display, switch, remote control, etc.), it must also be intuitive. This means it is clear how it must be used and what will happen if you use it. In addition, we want our smart home interfaces to also be timely (instantly ready to use), responsive (the resulting action happens immediately) and reliable (it always works).

The smart home is not about eliminating all of the buttons and switches in your home. In many situations it is just simpler and easier to press a light switch and if a light switch is present, people will expect it to work like normal light switches do. Part of the 'smart' in smart home is about predicting where buttons and switches should be, ensuring that the person pressing it knows what it will do and in making sure that what happens next meets their expectations.

Example:  Pretty much everything smart in our home can also be controlled quickly and reliably via our AI interface. We don't tend to use this type of interface a lot but the option is there. This interface typically identifies the device being used and hence the person, to also provide a personalised user experience.

Convenience

The smart home can provide an incredible level of convenience.

Example:  It's convenient that lights come on for us when we enter dark rooms and switch off when we have left. It's convenient that the house is always just the right temperature and we don't have to play with thermostats. It's convenient that our smart home tells us when parcels have been delivered. It's convenient that our smart home tells us when mail has been delivered or that the letterbox has been wedged open by junk mail. It's convenient that our smart home warns us about bad weather coming just before we leave the house.

It's all just really convenient!

Effortless

As well as being energy efficient, a smart home is also often effortless (minimises the user interaction required). It can automate mundane and repetitive tasks. Whilst the able-bodied often take such things for granted, those with dexterity and mobility issues hugely appreciate the value of this, with the smart home supporting the concept of assisted living. You don't have to be old to appreciate this.

Example:  Most of our home lighting is intelligently automated around us so that we don't have interact with things like light switches. We don't do remote control via apps either! It has the context and intelligence to make informed decisions on our behalf. This is what we mean by smart.

Personalised

Our smart home understands that each person has unique needs and provides a personalised user experience to best meet them. These needs could be defined by age, height, sex, dexterity, mobility or simple personal preferences.

Example:  Pretty much everything smart in our home can also be controlled quickly and reliably via voice (and text) control. We don't tend to use this type of interface a lot but the option is always there. This interface can often identify the device being used and hence the person, to provide a completely personalised experience.

Part of this personalised user experience is knowing what each person is allowed and enforcing those permissions.

Example:  Children and guests can't turn our smart home alarm on or off and also can't change thermostat settings.

Privacy

The contextual smart home collects vast amounts of personal data about your home and its occupants. Because it provides so many advanced features, a lot of this data is high sensitive and personal. Our view is that this should not be shared with third parties like Google, Apple, Amazon, Samsung, etc.

This is why we have designed our smart home solution from the outset to protect its owner's privacy. Our design is based upon the assumption that you own your smart home and all of the information that it generates and stores. The default position is that all of this data stays within your home unless you decide to share some of it with other service providers.

Comfortable

A smart home will intelligently monitor and control obvious things like heating and cooling, to ensure your home remains comfortable. Our smart home also monitors humidity and controls things like bathroom extractor fans to ensure bathrooms are warm, dry and condensation free. It also controls safety lighting to ensure we don't struggle to move around at night and don't get dazzled by lights being switched on automatically. Our smart home also monitors air quality to ensure we are not subjected to air-borne pollution and discomfort.

Safety

Safety is probably the main reason that most people start looking at home automation and start thinking about adding 'smartness' to their home. A benefit of the smart home is that it often makes people think about safety in their home and the steps they can take to improve it.

When it comes to safety sensors and devices in the smart home some of the key advantages are:

Example:  Our smart home has safety lighting to ensure we are never left in the dark. This is a zero-touch user experience.

Energy Efficiency

It is hard to convey in words alone just how much more efficient a smart home can be in terms of energy usage. The power to monitor occupancy and to intelligently control heating, lighting and appliances around you and your family results in huge improvements in efficiency (and convenience), resulting in large cost savings. In many cases there are obvious financial benefits (e.g. smart heating control enabled at a zone level) but in other cases the financial reward is more subtle.

Example:  Our contextual smart home just knows automatically if we are in, out or away on holiday and adjusts the heating accordingly, to enable huge savings.
Example: 

Our contextual smart home can monitor the energy usage of individual devices and appliances and track how long they are on for. It can also automatically switch them off when they are no longer required or have been left on by mistake.

Example:  Our smart home controls bathroom extractor fans by measuring the humidity level in each bathroom. The electricity savings alone may take many years to provide 'pay back' but, the smart elements installed to enable this feature are justified by more than this one obvious financial incentive. There is a comfort factor in having a bathroom that maintains low humidity and the convenience of mirrors that are not misted up. There is a convenience factor in knowing that children and guests can't leave fans on by accident. There is a secondary cost saving and added convenience from the towels drying quicker on towel rails in the less humid environment. There is also a quality of life improvement from extractor fans not running (and making a noise) when they are not required. The sensor we use to measure humidity also provides the ability to measure temperature and this brings with it other savings and benefits, again showing that the realised value is often greater than the sun of the parts.
Example:  Our smart home uses occupancy and presence to turn on lights as we need them and off when we don't, whilst making sure we are never left in the dark.

Access Control

Smart home access control enables greater flexibility and peace of mind. Smart locks can be checked or operated remotely, to enable guests and tradesmen access. Technologies like NFC/RFID can be used to provide an audit trail if need be, as can keypads along with unique user PIN codes.

Security

A reliable security system with both local and remote alarms will greatly improve the security of you home and its contents. Integrating this functionality into your smart home provides greater control and the ability to get remote alerts and take more appropriate action. Smart home components installed correctly will eliminate false alarms, hugely improving confidence in your alarm system and ensuring real alarm events are taken seriously by neighbours and the police.

Simple things like having lights on timers to make your home look occupied is a major deterrent to burglars. Adding some smarter components brings more flexible control, clocks that adjust automatically for daylight saving and light level sensing to improve efficiency and react to local weather conditions. The smart home can also automate the opening and closing of curtains and blinds, so your house looks occupied whilst away on holiday.

Example:  Our smart home uses controllers to schedule when lights come on and off, to make our home look occupied but also for convenience. A twilight ensures it adapts to local time and weather conditions.
Example:  Our smart home proactively monitors our home network looking for intrusions and unauthorised devices. It will provide an alert when something suspicious occurs.

Peace Of Mind

Knowing that you can check appliances and switch them off whilst away from home can provide peace of mind. In our smart home all of our connected devices are monitored to see how long they have been on (and off).

Being able to remotely monitor devices or get notifications and alerts on your Smartphone also provides peace of mind. Remote access to security cameras and captured images and video even more so.

Example:  Our smart home monitors energy usage of things like hair straighteners and will generate if they have been left on and will also automatically switch them off.

Accessibility

Our approach to delivering a contextual smart home with a great user experience means that it is also accessible to all. Wherever possible we aim for a zero-touch user experience, which just works for everyone. Our approach of providing multiple user interfaces that work in parallel means that one of them will always work well for you, regardless of your abilities or potential impairments. The contextual smart home can work for the profoundly deaf, visually impaired and less agile. Improving quality of life for all is one of our primary goals.

Well Being

A smart home will intelligently monitor and control obvious things like heating and cooling, to ensure your home remains comfortable. Our smart home also monitors humidity and controls things like bathroom extractor fans to ensure bathrooms are warm, dry and condensation free. It also controls safety lighting to ensure we don't struggle to move around at night and don't get dazzled by lights being switched on. Our smart home also monitors air quality to ensure we are not subjected to air-borne pollution and discomfort.

The smart home can monitor both the external and internal environment, measuring pollution levels, local weather conditions, carbon monoxide levels, detecting smoke, as well as obvious things like temperature and humidity. Our smart home also monitors UV levels and will soon be monitoring background radiation levels too.

Example:  Our smart conservatory ensures that it is comfortable when we need to use it for exercise (our cross-trainer is in our conservatory).

We have alluded to it already but, the smart home is completely compatible with the concept of assisted living. A smart home is perfect for the elderly and vulnerable and can ensure peace of mind for both local and remote carers or relatives.

Example:  In our smart home we use Withings WS-30 Wi-Fi connected scales. These automate the collection and provide personalised analysis of our weight, with the app encouraging us to reach our targets. The accompanying Smartphone app also tracks activity without any additional hardware.
Example:  Our smart home monitors the games consoles in our home and how long they are on for. If our children spend too much time playing games, our smart home will alert us.

Assisted Living

All of the benefits described above combine to enable 'assisted living for all'. As the smart home becomes more connected and more intelligent it can do more for everyone that resides within it.

Telecare

Included within of our wide definition of the contextual smart home is telecare. An intelligent smart home could help people with mobility and dexterity issues live longer in their own home. It could support the elderly and vulnerable and those affected by dementia, to lead a better and more independent life.

Environmental Impact

As well as reducing your home's energy usage, the smart home can assist in reducing its environmental impact in other ways. We are researching ways to reduce water usage and maximise rainwater harvesting and grey water recycling. We are also researching how the smart home can help with local energy generation.

Example:  Appliances under intelligent control spend less time on. They therefore last longer, reducing the need to replace as frequently. This is also true of light bulbs and other items, further reducing your environmental impact.

Entertainment, Gaming & Fun

The smart home makes access to entertainment easier and more convenient. It simplifies the process of consuming content (film, TV, music, user generated content, etc.) throughout your home, when you want it and on the devices that you have to hand. It both improves access to 'quality' content and the quality of the content consumed, whilst enabling a personalised experience.

The smart home has to be fun! If it isn't putting a smile on your face at least once each day, then it isn't really 'smart' in our view.

Example:  Our smart home monitors on-line TV guides and finds programmes of interest based upon individual user interest profiles. It delivers a personalised TV guide each morning, to ensure we never miss interesting stuff on TV.
Example:  Our smart home lights up the stairs as we walk up them, providing a useful and fun visual effect.

Quality Of Life & Lifestyle

If we had to summarise the benefits of the the smart home in one simple phrase, then it would be "improved quality of life". A smart home informs and educates you, improving the way you live in and changing the way you view and interact with your home. A smart home becomes a reliable and dependable friend.

Example:  Our smart home knows how much hot water is available so that we don't ever experience a luke-warm bath or shower. We can simply ask our smart home if there is enough hot available for a bath or shower.

Reliability & Resilience

If it is implemented correctly, a smart home will actually improve reliability through intelligence and efficient use of resources and devices. When you have lived in a smart home your behaviour and lifestyle adapts and you come rely on it and expect it to make your life better.

The light bulbs in our smart home are a very simple example of this. Intelligent control will optimise the time they spend on (and maybe also their brightness) and thus maximise their lifespan. This is also true for other devices and appliances controlled by our smart home.

Example:  Our smart home is resilient to mains power failure by using Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) to keep essential services and features running for a very long time. Our smart home will take appropriate action to keep us comfortable and safe.
Example: 

During the summer months, our central heating system is switched off and is not generally used at all from April to October. Once a week, during these months our @smartest_home exercises our central heating to help keep the pipes clear and the pumps running smoothly, improving reliability.

Intelligent & Proactive

If implemented correctly, the smart home is not a collection of isolated hardware and apps. The smart home has never been about simple remote control of appliances and consumer devices in our view. Smart home is about a seamless layer of intelligence that sits above the normal user interactions that experience on a daily basis.

The intelligent smart home is proactive, taking action before you realise it has happened or is even needed. It can consume external data sources (such as location, online calendars, weather forecasts, etc.) to predict future requirements and pre-empt the needs of its owners.

Our smart home collects and analyses local weather feeds and also collects data directly via our weather station. From this data it identifies potential hazards (ice, heavy rain, high winds, high UV levels, high levels of pollution, etc.) and proactively warns us of potential hazards as we leave our home.

Example:  Our smart home collects and analyses air pressure and uses the falling rate to intelligently and accurately predict incoming storms. It can typically provide about 2 hours notice of high winds and heavy rain. This is very convenient when you have washing drying on a clothes line outside. Our smart home also has a rain sensors and provides a spoken warning when it starts to rain.

Low Cost

Our technology abstraction and hybrid technology approach to delivering the contextual smart home means we can use the best technology solution for each task at hand. Best in terms of performance, reliability and cost. This means that you don't need to integrate expensive "smart" gadgets designed with one purpose in mind. Many of which have planned obsolescence to ensure you buy the latest version.

There is a better way and we think that our approach of connecting simpler, lower cost, "dumb" sensors and devices that can be easily connected is the way forward. We let the contextual smart home be the brains and everything connected to it inherits all its capabilities and smartness. Not only does this provide a much better and more powerful user experience but it also significantly reduces the cost of living in a smart home.

Luxury

I was watching a TV programme called 'The World's Most Luxurious Hotels'. These are the kind of hotels where you can spend £5000 or more a night to experience the ultimate luxury stay. On the programme they asked several hotel managers to define luxury and they all said something along the lines of: "Luxury is providing something before the customer needs to ask for it."

This is one of the primary goals of the contextual smart home, which aims to deliver a zero-touch user experience when ever possible.

Knowledge And Learning

After all the above reasons have been considered there is still one more compelling reason why you need to live in a smart home:

When we started off down the path of home automation it was simply to better understand how we used our house and to learn from this knowledge. All of the above benefits can only be realised by understanding how you use your home and implementing a smart home solution to meet each need. An holistic view of the knowledge and learning will allow a focus on the most important needs, minimise the effort required whilst maximising the benefits and also minimise expenditure. The learning will help you decide how best to improve your current home and can even help you decide when it is time to move home.

This is a continual learning process and this is why we have always viewed the smart home as a journey and not a destination. It's a journey that we think everyone should make.

Example:  Our smart home monitors its own performance and logs all significant events. A short summary report is automatically created and provided every day, providing insight and learning.

Convergence is about bringing relevant services and features within the scope of your smart home, to enable simple and easy control. It means intelligent and simple integration, to make bring things 'closer to hand' (voice, gesture, etc.). When done well, it means you don't have to think about how you interact with related elements because the logical interface is just ready and available.

Convergence is not about an 'uber app' and providing one single app to control everything. It's about have right interface for the required task and this will be one on many interfaces and types of interfaces. It has to be one that makes sense and works for each individual user.

Example:  A good example of convergence in our view is the (secure) relationship between the smart home and the connected car. Being able to ask your smart home to 'defrost the car' is useful and logical thing to be able to do. Similarly, having a garage door open automatically so that your car can enter the garage is another example.

In Summary

We can think of no better example where the phrase "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts" is true than for the contextual smart home. With a whole home context approach to smart home automation, much of the hardware installed in your smart home has multiple uses, meets many needs and supports many of the above reasons for living in a smart home.

Example: 

A really simple example of this in our smart home is our connected temperature sensors. These can be used to: