The smart home industry is in the midst of a continuous crescendo, with new devices from smart vacuums to smart plugs entering the homes of end users every day. Already, 32% of American homes have smart home devices, and that number is expected to surpass 50% by 2024 alone, according to Statista. However, while these devices offer many cool features, they lack the real element that all smart home users (hobbyists and newcomers alike) crave: true automation and customization. See also: What is a smart home?
Oren Kotlicki, CEO and Founder of Intellithings (Image credit: Intellithings) With smart devices that automatically brew your morning coffee and smart pet feeders that automatically fill your dog or cat's food bowl, it may seem like automation is already here. it has taken over our homes and simplified our daily routines. In reality, most smart home end users find themselves not in an automated oasis of connected smart devices, but rather among a mass of finicky devices that sometimes demand more from us than they can offer in return. That's not to say there hasn't been significant development of automated platforms in recent years. For one thing, the proliferation of smart speaker virtual assistants like Amazon Alexa has put the convenience of hands-free smart home control within the reach of any user who wants it. However, these virtual assistants are still not smart enough to correctly take all voice commands, so users will need to be aware of word choice, pronunciation, and volume when speaking to Alexa, Google Assistant, or Apple Siri. However, while more than 4 in 10 consumers own one of these smart speaker virtual assistants, 7 in 10 say these devices have privacy concerns. For those users with heightened privacy concerns who don't want to bring a voice-activated assistant into their home, there are other ways to achieve levels of automation in your smart home. For example, the simple touch of a screen on a smartphone or even a smartwatch can instantly trigger smart lights to turn on or off, smart locks to lock or unlock, or near any number of other smart devices to activate. Additionally, users have the ability to fully control their smart home hands-free with the advent of smart motion sensors that trigger smart home activity simply by walking next to or through a particular designated area. However, it's important to note that these sensors are prone to errors quite easily, as they can be triggered by almost any type of errant movement, such as that of a stray pet. Also, while smart motion sensors can excel at automation, they can't provide personalization, another key blank space in the smart home industry.
(Image credit: Intellithings) While the smart home market has brought users delights like energy efficient smart bulbs and intuitive smart thermostats and takes strong steps towards high levels of automation, it is failing users in terms of customization, as most devices on the market cannot do this. it really identifies individual people. For example, while smart home systems that have individualized coded smart locks or coded remote fobs can allow the smart home to recognize when a specific person has arrived at the home, it cannot determine presence beyond initial entry. In other words, you can't know which specific household member is in which specific room until you engage through voice, app, or some other tangible touch point. Even with this commitment, most smart home systems only recognize that an order has been placed and do not know who is placing the order or what their specific preferences are. See also: How the smart home is changing home security Consider this scenario: You come home from work and walk into your living room ready to kick back. You can activate your smart motion sensor to turn on your smart lights; you can ask your virtual assistant to start your favorite playlist; and you can use your smartphone to adjust the smart thermostat. While all of these smart devices can be successfully activated, they still require a personalization command and signal from you. Now consider an alternative: You come home from work and walk into your living room ready to relax. Your smart home system immediately recognizes your presence and identifies who you are. It tells the smart lights to go to the specific brightness level you prefer at 6:30 pm Start playing your late-night "chill" playlist. And set your smart thermostat to your preferred temperature of 70 degrees. You haven't passed a motion sensor, issued a command, or touched your smartphone; However, your entire ecosystem of connected devices has been automatically adapted to your default custom settings.
(Image credit: Intellithings) In this second scenario, your smart home is equipped with presence-sensing technology. Presence Sensing Technology (PST) is leading a new trend in fully automated and personalized smart home systems. This technology is implemented through a new generation of smart home sensors: the true occupancy automation sensor, which identifies an individual's specific presence in a room and activates smart home devices to instantly tune to the individual's personal preferences. This technology is backed by Israeli start-up Intellithings, which provides its proprietary presence sensing technology to end users through its real occupancy automation sensor, RoomMe. Presence sensing technology uses unique Bluetooth signatures from people's corresponding smartphones to detect who is and is not in which specific room(s) of the home, then intelligently enables personalized home scenes. Unlike virtual assistants, apps on smartwatches and smartphones, and smart motion sensors, presence sensing technology enables end-users to achieve true automation and personalization, meaning their smart homes can enable customizations. specific to each person without the need for an order. . Automation and personalization are hallmarks of what we as an industry envision as the truly intelligent smart home. Unfortunately, most of the smart home devices available today only have low levels of automation and rudimentary levels of customization at best. In other words, they may be able to turn on or off automatically, but require a trigger on your part to do so; similarly, they can tune to a certain setting, but will tune to that default setting regardless of which house member gives the command. Only presence sensing technology offers a new approach to controlling the smart home in a way that offers true automation and real opportunities for personalization. About Oren Kotlicki
Oren Kotlicki is the founder and CEO of Intellithings Ltd., a developer of technology solutions that enable connected smart home devices to deliver personalized automation. Kotlicki is an expert in smart home devices, security systems, detectors and theft, with more than 20 years of experience working with wireless technology in product management and business development.