The home automation revolution, the advantages of the smart home


More and more homes around the world, thanks to advances in home automation technology, save energy, gain comfort and security.

Technology is increasingly present in various aspects of our lives, it is the so-called ‘Internet of things’. Until recently it was unimaginable to think that we could have internet on our mobile phone or buy without the need to carry cash or credit card. However, for several years some companies have begun to develop home automation technology to make housework easier for us or simply to make coming home more comfortable.

The latest studies indicate that for the year 2020 more than 200 million households around the worlda figure close to 15% of the global total, will have some type of home automation serviceeven if it is a simple sensor that allows us to regulate the internal temperature of our house or surveillance cameras that warn of the entry of any intruder.

One of the companies that is dedicating the most efforts to the development of this type of technology is Bosch. The company has created a whole range of home automation products, Bosch Smart Home, which were presented at the IFA fair, which took place in Germany last September. The company intends to become the leading firm in the market when it comes to this type of item.

To adapt the home automation in our homes without having to resort to large reforms or changes in our home, Bosch presented a solution based on the Zigbee protocol combination, that minimizes contamination by wireless network, and installing a small driver that can be placed in any room of the house.

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With this union it is possible peripherally control the different devices that have been purchased from the brand, such as thermostatic heads for heating control or state-of-the-art internal or external security cameras.

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These products are sold in packages that can be purchased together or separately and are divided into two categories. The first group, ‘Savings and comfort’, includes the Startup Heating package, which is priced at 379.95 euros, and the Previous Climate Startup, at a cost of 359.95 euros.

These are the two tools that the firm includes in its home automation section for the internal temperature maintenance of the house and its maximum economy. In addition, it has also created elements for ‘Security’, it is the so-called Security Starter Package, which is worth 399.95 euros, and allows the homeowner to have a full control of what is happening inside your property.

all these useful can be controlled externally by the user through the application that Bosch has created for it and that constantly communicates with the home automation controller that has previously been installed in the home.

The home automation revolution, the advantages of the smart home

Whirlpool is another of the companies that is betting the most on this technology and specifically, its advances are aimed at home automation in the kitchen. Whirlpool Connect is the tool designed by the American company that is capable of write down the online shopping list that she creates digitally herselfthose products that are missing in the refrigerator and that are the most consumed by family members.

Likewise, the Smart Socket function allows you to know which foods are about to expire and informs you of this through sounds and notifications in the terminal where the application for system control is installed, so that the user always knows the status of what is in the refrigerator .

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Some of the brand’s household appliances that have home automation software They are the refrigerator, which is the one that informs us of what food remains to be bought, and the refrigerator, which has become one of the most popular products in homes in the United States.

The ceramic hob, which includes the CookTo tool allows you to connect to different social networks at the time you are cookinglisten to our Spotify lists, read the mail or the newspaper and also see what recipes we can make with the food that is kept in the fridge and freezer, which also interacts with this application.

Also, if we have guests and we want to surprise them by accompanying dinner with the perfect drink for the recipe we have cooked or with a creative presentation for our dish, Cook Top will take care of it, since it has a large database in which no detail escapes. There is also a special program for restaurants that will allow them to receive reservations that users make through pages like TripAdvisor on the same hob.

The home automation revolution, the advantages of the smart home

Apple and Google have also recently opted for home automation. In the case of those from Cupertino, the Home application for iOS 10 allows you to control all the household elements that are connected to it and that have the ‘Works with Apple HomeKit’ label. To make use of them, you must enter the tool and connect them. Once this step is done, most of the elements can be controlled by means of the voice commands that are communicated to Siri.

This system will allow you to turn off the lights in a certain room, turn on the heating before you get home, lower the intensity of the light or check if the door of the house or garage has been closed when you leave. Within the same application you can create categories called ‘environments’ in which you can include all the accessories that are available in the same room and thus control them all at the same time.

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The technology giant Google got fully into the sector by buying Nest for 3.2 billion dollars and Dropcam for 550 million, the companies it acquired in 2014 and with which it has developed several products since then. The smart thermostat and the smoke detector are some of its star devices. In the case of the first, allows to regulate the heat of the house and also to know what savings are produced in consumption.

In the case of smoke detectors, the device alert of any abnormality that occurs inside the house and quickly sends a message to the device with which it is connected, it is also able to issue voice messages inside the space in which it is installed in case someone is nearby.

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Why install home automation services in our home? After analyzing some of the new tools that companies have developed in this field, it can be said that savings, comfort and safety are the basic principles on which companies rely to carry out this type of applications.

Being able to control the temperature at home before arriving, cooking while reading the mail or the newspaper, turning off the light in the dining room when you are already in bed, observing what is happening at home when you are working or receiving the list of missing products in the fridge without having to do it yourself are some of the many conveniences these tools offer.

(Sources: Bosch, Whirlpool, Google, Apple)