Smart Home: what level of automation is possible in the home and when is it better to vacuum the house yourself?
What would happen if the remote controlled not just the television, but the whole house? And what would happen if the remote control was replaced by the smartphone, so that when we're on the train, we can heat the oven or check the fridge to see which ingredients we still need to buy to make a tasty dish? This is the smart home dream, the fully automated and connected home - and I do mean dream.
What's already possible today
Relatively tried and tested is remote control of lamps, blinds, heating, etc. With inexpensive starter kits, you can simply plug the streetlight into the smart plug and control it remotely. For complex solutions, it's advisable to call in an electrician if you don't want the blinds to pull in the middle of the night. The possibilities are already numerous. Anyone who, like Kevin in "Mummy missed the plane", wants to deter burglars sets the control so that the light comes on at different intervals in different rooms.
About security: of course, alarm systems with cameras and motion detectors such as the D-Link mydlink Home Security Starter Kit can be purchased and configured as desired. The video can be viewed on a smartphone. Clandestine parties when the parents are away are therefore much more difficult. If no one is home and someone rings the doorbell, you can ask to receive the visitor's image and open the door at the touch of a button. Facial recognition is even possible, with the Netatmo Welcome, for example.
Do you like to heat up your car to keep it nice and warm in winter? The same thing is possible at home. You can, for example, switch on the heating an hour before you get home from work - conveniently via smartphone.
No common standard
A large number of different technologies such as Z-Wave, EnOcean or ZigBee exist for the control and connectivity of home automation. Transmission is either by radio or via the electrical network. The standards are generally not compatible with each other, meaning that the products cannot be mixed. Devices such as Zipato that can communicate with and control different technologies are a great help.
But what about household appliances? The cooker and oven can be controlled remotely so that the pizza is nice and crispy when you arrive home with the slab. The Samsung POWERbot Wifi VR9200 robot hoover and robot lawnmower work on the same principle. Different operations can even be combined. When the baby wakes up, a sensor detects it and sends a command directly to the kitchen to start the coffee machine and bake the croissants. However, nappies still have to be changed by hand.
Washing machines and fridges have got smarter, although the latter have become the gag of the smart future. Ever since the smart home was touted at tech shows, fridges have been the benchmark for vague promises. They do, however, have a few practical tricks up their sleeve. They monitor and manage inventory via a camera, and missing products can be ordered via touchscreen. Or it can show us the latest episode of "Big Bang Theory" while we're cutting the onions and getting teary-eyed. The washing machine can also be monitored using the smartphone, so it can be programmed to run only when the tariff is reduced. Is the tumble dryer too noisy? Why not start it when you leave the house? Without doing anything.
A utopian future
Sony's Xperia Agent is even more connected and even more revolutionary. A personal assistant that can be controlled by voice. The little robot responds to questions and commands like: "play a song from Rage against the Machine" or "what's the weather going to be like tomorrow?" It projects the answers and notifications onto the table or wall. In addition, the Xperia Agent controls lamps, switches and thermostats provided the product is supported.
Is this really practical?
Much of the functionality set out below falls into the category: Nice to Have. What's more, not everything is Plug and Play. When it comes to controlling lights, heating and monitoring, the smart home is already highly developed. Depending on the person and the situation, the smart home can lead to enrichment and relief. But as long as the Roomba hoover doesn't go to the Migros with the fridge shopping list and, by the way, recycle PET bottles, the most exciting things remain wishful thinking. More than a toy, but still in its infancy
We're still a long way from a fully automated house. Even if we build a luxurious house packed with the latest technology, we'll still have to get up to cook or brush our teeth. If you don't want to end up like the obese characters in the Wall-E cartoon, maybe it's even better that way. The situation becomes dangerous when the Google robot takes over our housework. The next station will then be called Skynet.
Being the game and gadget geek that I am, working at digitec and Galaxus makes me feel like a kid in a candy shop – but it does take its toll on my wallet. I enjoy tinkering with my PC in Tim Taylor fashion and talking about games on my podcast http://www.onemorelevel.ch. To satisfy my need for speed, I get on my full suspension mountain bike and set out to find some nice trails. My thirst for culture is quenched by deep conversations over a couple of cold ones at the mostly frustrating games of FC Winterthur.