Home automation explained The automated home

Technology is cheaper and more accessible than ever. Broadband internet, cable TV and a multitude of gadgets are more transforming our home lives. We haven’t quite reached the state where robots are cleaning the car on a Sunday morning but there are many ways technology can help.

What is automation?

Automation can help with locks, doors, baths and even order your shopping!

Often referred to as a smart home or an intelligent home, automation is basically about systems that make your life easier and safer. It can help with locks, doors, curtains, baths and even order your shopping!

What automation can do

• Turning lights off and on automatically when it’s light or getting dark.
• Opening and closing curtains or blinds remotely.
• Timers that can switch appliances on and off automatically.
• Motorised windows and garage doors that open and close at the flick of a switch.
• Fingerprint recognition door locks.
• Taps that turn themselves on remotely and then off before they overflow a sink or bath.
• Fridges that re-order food when you run out.
• Robotic vacuum cleaners and lawn mowers.
• Fire and carbon monoxide detectors that can set off sound or flashing alarms.

Intelligent systems

To begin to automate your home, you will need to think about installing an intelligent system. This normally consists of a main hub that is programmed to suit your requirements. It can be installed to control anything in your home from the lighting to entertainment systems, heating, appliances, and security and safety features.

These systems can also use remote access so you can dial in when you are away and get a TV programme recorded, or switch the oven or kettle on so it’s ready when you get home.

Depending on your budget, you can have a system like this that controls everything possible or you can have a system for each of the utilities, which you can add to over time.

For example, it is possible to have all your lighting automated so that when you arrive home the drive lights come on. Then you press a remote to open the garage door, which switches another light on. Once you’ve left your car, the lights show you the way to the front door. By the time you have unlocked it, the lights switch on as you move from room to room.

Smart audio-visuals

Alternatively, you can have your entertainment co-ordinated around the house with multi-room audio and visual. Music and TV can be downloaded from the internet and sent anywhere around the home, or to a hand-held device, such as an MP3 or 4 player.

A more elaborate system can play the same music, film or TV on monitors and speakers in every room (or allow you to choose different tracks, music or programmes for each room from a central set of controls). It can even be programmed to follow you via a detection system which notices when you move from place to place.

Or you might be tempted by an automated cinema room with a projector and screen that come down at the touch of a button, as well as lighting and blinds or curtains that adapt to your chosen settings.

Remote home automation

If you have a second home, or are away a lot, it may be worth considering improving your home to increase security, ensure your garden is always well watered and that in freezing weather, you can turn on the heating to avoid burst pipes.

This technology works by installing software on your mobile phone to access appliances in the home. If you have a security system that alerts you to someone ringing the doorbell or trying to get into your home, you can tune into the security camera and see what’s happening. So you know whether it’s a false alarm or time to call the police. 

Alternatively you can access your control systems from the internet. Typically the networking software installed in your home allows you to operate the systems from a website.

Gardens

Automation isn’t just for indoors – it can help to keep your garden in shape, too. Look at fitting a system controlled by a plug-in timer or linked into a network. Myriad pipes and connectors are hidden around the garden and in containers and baskets that can water everything just when it’s needed.