When your home becomes smarter than you

Home automation happens to be one of those movie fictions that has turned into a reality in this century. Internet has created an avenue for the world to experience that which was once considered inconceivable. Internet of things which allowed devices to be interconnected has ended in producing something considered too good to be true, they call it the smart home or automated home.

#Let’s try to define a smart home

A smart home is one in which all the electronic devices are reactive, these devices are connected to the internet which makes them function automatically without human intervention. Your home devices exercise autonomy that you don’t have to control them with an app or a remote control.

One might look at devices like refrigerators, fans, the thermostat, the televisions and the electric light bulbs as being extraordinary inventions but a smart home is way beyond them; these devices can’t function independently and can’t be controlled remotely. In a smart home, devices can trigger each other so they can function without manual intervention.

As recent as the smart home may look, its concept could be traced back in the early sixties with the introduction of electric power distribution which saw appliances like washing machine, water heaters, dish washers and clothes dryers being manufactured. Also the closest to the smart home is a Smart tech device developed in the 1960’s but never commercialized; it was called the ECO IV home automating device, this device achieved a wonder in that time it nearly achieved home autonomy dream; it was able to turn other devices on and off, control a home’s ambient temperature and even compute shopping list.

#Now Let’s tell a story of the home of the future

#Now let's tell a story of a smart home 

My name is Iyke, I work for an ICT company but I have an interview with a first class software company; Digiweb developers Company. Before now, my alarm rings by 10am because my work starts by 11am but smart home senses that I have an interview by 9am and then my alarm rings by 7am just because my home was triggered by a mail invitation for my interview with Digiweb Developers. I walk straight into the bathroom, my shower already knows the temperature of water I prefer using by that time of the day, it waits until I have undressed before it automatically turns on. Oh yes I love country music to set me off for the day, my automated shower starts playing a country music. At same time my coffee maker has been triggered to start making coffee and the coffee making machine knows that I don’t like much sugar, not just that, before making the coffee, it has already ordered for fresh bread from the bakery which is delivered by a drone at the front of my door. A humanoid robot picks up the coffee, drops it on my dining table that is, after receiving the bread, so my breakfast is already served. I hurriedly take my breakfast, the humanoid clears the table taking my cup to the dishwasher which automatically washes the cup and arranges it in the stack. Hold on, I’m not yet done with this thing that sounds like a Hollywood movie. My electric car has already charged itself and the door is open waiting for me, I jump into the car and the self driving car zooms off. Immediately the home senses my exit, it initiates an automatic lockdown.  

Chapter 2

There’s a heavy traffic on the road and I’m running late for my all crucial interview, my car notifies Digiweb Developers Company by mail of the impending situation and suggests a slight adjustment of the interview time. The interview was exhausting but it was a success. On my way back my car notifies the home that I’m returning, preparation of lunch is started instantly. The sound of my car makes the house initiate an unlock. It was a long day, the shower knows I need it to be hot and it gives me a hot bath. The television knows that it is time for the football match and it turns on automatically hence turning off the sound system. I pass the interview the sound system plays a congratulation song and so I lived happily with my smart home ever after.

I didn’t just narrate altogether a fiction, it is the smart home reality, with Internet of things we are at the stage of experiencing the marveling and enjoying the most thrilling.

But there are many questions and fears surrounding the acceptance of smart home, some of which are;

1. What about security issues: This happens to be the biggest question that deserves answer. Issue of cybercrime has become a force to reckon with and with our whole home connected to the internet, that makes it prone to hacking. Imagine a hacker successfully breaks through the fire wall of our home; then he can manipulate the coffee maker which may lead to poisoning, he can manipulate the shower and make it malfunction maybe heating the bathing water beyond boiling point; this could be deadly. A whole lot of damage can be caused.

2. What about losing our humanity: the question of humanity losing the beauty of union and interaction becomes critical. Our total reliance on machine might tend to separate the fellowship we have with one another and gradually the effect might be something not altogether appreciable.

3. What about power source: knowing that all these machines will not only be controlled by internet but power supply, what happens when power shuts down suddenly in a home; that might be apocalypse in such a home.

 It’s very difficult to judge or predict, but is smart home an invention to accept and relish or one to hold with a degree of apprehension? What’s your take? You can make your contribution in the comment section below.