UPDATED 07:00 EDT / OCTOBER 09 2013

NEWS

3 Smart Startup Solutions To Automate Your Home

It used to be that home automation was the exclusive domain of the rich – those wealthy enough to splurge $20,000-plus on complex systems that allowed them to control the lights, security, air conditioning, home theater and other odds and ends at the flick of a switch. That’s not no longer the case, with a slew of new startups quickly bringing home automation to the mainstream.

The likes of Nest, Kwikset, Yale, Insteon, Dropcam and Sonos offer devices that allow us to control the thermostat, A/C, locks, lights, doors, cameras, speakers and anything else you can think of. These gadgets aren’t just cool things to have – they’re affordable too, and that means people are only going to buy more of them. So many of them in fact, that according to one report from NextMarket Insights the the smart home services market is set to grow from less than $2 billion worldwide in 2012 to $10.9 billion by 2017.

That sounds all well and good, I mean, what’s wrong with making life more convenient after all? But new technologies almost always lead to unforeseen problems, and in the case of home automation one of the biggest will be working out how to integrate all of this convenience into our homes.

The Trouble With Automated Homes

 
The trouble will begin when these devices start piling up in your home. What happens if you decide to buy a bunch of different devices from Nest, Kwikset, Yale, Dropcam, Hue, Insteon and Sonos? All of a sudden, you’ve got seven different smart gadgets, controlled by seven separate apps, each of which has to be learned individually. What if you wanted to set things up so the security lights come on after the garage doors locks itself up for the night? There’s no easy way to integrate these things – each device has to be controlled by its own app which means a lot of fiddling around, perhaps too much for the average consumer.

The other problem is connectivity. These kinds of gadgets all communicate on different wireless protocols – as well as standard Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, we’ve got Zwave, Itron, Insteon, Zigbee, RadioRA2 and others – and each one needs its own wireless adapter. That means the consumer has to find a way to fit seven different kinds of adapter into his or her home, as well as their Wi-Fi router. Suddenly this Internet of Things idea starts getting very messy indeed.

Smart Home Integration

 
One way around this is to buy all of your devices from a single provider, such as Vivint or ADT Pulse, which allows everything to be controlled from a single app via a single wireless adapter. All very clean and tidy, but this kind of setup isn’t exactly cheap – Vivint’s home security package starts at $49.99/month, while ADT Pulse’s premium home automation package can be had for $53.99/month – and it means that the consumer has no freedom to choose the best gadgets around.

Ninjablocks sensor

A better way to get around this problem is to use a company that integrates the hardware and software, whilst still allowing consumers to buy the best individual products. This is the promise of startups like SmartThings, NinjaBlocks, Revolv and a host of others – rather than fumbling around with a whole bunch of apps, everything is integrated into just one app, while all of the disparate wireless adapters are thrown into a single box.

These companies tackle the problem of connectivity and usability using different methods. Kickstarter-funded SmartThings and NinjaBlocks sell consumers a variety of different sensors – motion, temperature, humidity etc, that can be fitted to real world things such as doors, light switches and appliances, allowing consumers to control these via a single application. Revolv’s approach is arguably even better, providing support for a bunch of popular Smart gadgets and different wireless protocols, including Insteon, Z-Wave, Zigbee and Wi-Fi.

Engineers have dreamed of creating fully automated homes for decades, but until now they’ve seen little success. Things are different this time round however, with the advancement of the Internet of Things paving the way for cost-effective, mobile platforms that can automate almost any conceivable function within our homes. Now, with companies like SmartThings, NinjaBlocks and Revolv offering viable solutions to the jumble of apps and wireless protocols that consumers will have to wade through, one of the last stumbling blocks has been removed, bringing the reality of a smart, automated home that much closer to us all.

See SiliconAngle’s full Smart Homes series collection over on Springpad.


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