A burning question for many people is just how far are we from the fully integrated smart home? A home can indeed be filled with smart technology, but it is the integration thereof – often referred to as the “Internet of Things” – which really makes a home smart. Indeed, of all the “newest” smart home trends is the one that seems to make a regular appearance – an increased level of integration, connecting more devices together, having them communicate, and bringing the fully integrated smart home that bit closer.
Of course, though, any smart home is made up of smart technology, whether it is all integrated or not. And this technology is indeed where most of the latest innovations lie. As well as getting closer to total integration, technological development where the smart home is concerned also involves a plethora of new devices – or, more often, high tech updates of existing home technology.
The fully integrated smart home is still quite far off, at least for the vast majority of the consumer market, but it’s undoubtedly getting closer. By the time we see integrated smart homes becoming commonplace, it is more than likely that the technology involved in it will be significantly more advanced than is common today. This is the twin-pronged approach that this technological development entails – a move towards integration and a continual updating of the individual technologies involved in that.
What Does Full Integration Actually Mean?
A truly integrated smart home is one in which all the electrical appliances and other electronics are connected and communicating with each other. Think of a fridge that sends you a text alert when it needs refilling, or an automatic thermostat that continually regulates the temperature of your bedroom in relation to the outside climate and you get a good idea of what this would look like. It is called the Internet of Things because that is exactly what it is – an internet where the “users” are the devices themselves.
As mentioned, the way towards realising this is one of continual development, and we are already at the point where at least some degree of interconnection is already a reality. But it isn’t everything, and the path towards the properly smart home will always be the development of new devices and the integration thereof.
Benefits of a Smart Home
Besides the simple convenience, there are several benefits to having a home that features some degree of interconnection. Here are but a few of them:
Safer
One of the biggest driving factors of this kind of technological development is the homeowner’s desire to install smarter and more effective security systems. The Internet of Things has serious potential here, from automatic cameras that can send alerts to your phone to smart smoke detectors that can distinguish between harmful and non-harmful smoke and even automatically alert the fire services in the event of a blaze.
Great for Pets
Given the very large number of homeowners who also have pets (70% in the US), pet care is another of the main driving factors of this technology. When you are at work and your dog is running around the house alone, a smart system can keep you abreast of how it is doing. From automatic pet food dispensers to cameras and cat flaps that alert you when your cat enters or exits, much smart home technology is concerned with pet care.
Sustainable
Indeed, a self-regulating home is one that can also regulate things like water temperature and heating in order to save as much energy as possible. There are also devices for switching off technology remotely (if you forget to turn everything off before you leave) and lights that turn off when there is nobody in the room. A fully integrated smart home is almost certain to be one that can aid the homeowner in saving energy, keeping their bills down, and protecting the environment.
New Smart Home Trends
So, the smart home is in the process of being gradually built up with one technological advancement after another. To that end, here are some of the latest trends in smart home technology:
Integration
As mentioned, greater integration in the smart home is one of the developments in and of itself. So where are we right now, exactly? If you purchase Google Home speakers for multiple rooms in your home, then they can work as an integrated unit instead of individually. Smart lighting systems are also becoming more of a full-home technology, with communication between different lighting set ups in different rooms ensuring the most efficient use of power. Smart fridges can communicate with your Amazon Alexa device and automatically add a reminder that, for example, you need to buy milk.
AI
Naturally, no smart system can function without AI, but the “intelligence” that AI is something that is being developed all the time. Naturally, this becomes apparent when AI systems are able to complete complex tasks that go a bit beyond what we know today as “automatic”. For example, it is now possible to have a proper conversation with your Amazon Alexa or Siri device, and many of the aforementioned smart home technologies could not work without significantly advanced AI.
Better Wi-Fi
Any smart home system relies on wi-fi, and this is something that is being constantly developed to become faster and wieldier. The latest and fastest wi-fi around today is a significant improvement on what we had even a few short years ago. There is now WIFI 6E, which offers the kind of speed and bandwidth that will be necessary for many of these smart home functions to be realised at all.
Smart Thermostats
Smart thermostats have technically been around for a while, with ones that automatically turn off at a certain temperature being commonplace in homes for years. However, thermostats are today getting a lot smarter than that, with devices that can respond to the ambient temperature (inside and out), and which can also be controlled remotely from your mobile device. Such devices are great for conserving energy while still ensuring you never come home to a cold house. That is the very definition of a win-win.
Health Tech
One demographic is in need of this technology the most – the elderly and infirm. For such individuals, wearable smart technology that can recognise when some accident has happened and automatically call for help is the very definition of a lifesaving technology. Nevertheless, even for everybody else, smart home health tech is becoming more common.
Things such as humidity sensors, the aforementioned smart thermostats, and even stuff like doorbells that can test the temperature of guests and allow the homeowner to screen them for diseases (like Covid) before admitting them are either on their way or here already. Making the home a healthier pace is indeed one of the main functions of new smart technology.
Conclusion
As mentioned, all this innovative technology is leading somewhere – the fully integrated smart home. We are not quite there yet, but each step along the way brings with it new consumer technology offering never before seen benefits. And in the end, the principle underpinning this is nothing stranger than the value of working together; humans do that all the time, so why not devices?