Smart Homes: What is all the fuss about?
By: Aniket Kamthe
Tags: Smarthomes, IoT, Future, Productivity, Technology

The Internet will disappear. There will be so many IP addresses, so many devices, sensors, things that you are wearing, things that you are interacting with, that you won’t even sense it. — Eric Schmidt, Google chairman, on a panel at the World Economic Forum.

‘Smart homes’ today have become a buzz word; hundreds of companies across the world are claiming to make your life smarter and arguably more ‘convenient’ using their technology. The Smart homes market has seen explosive growth over the last few years. Let’s look into a few numbers to put things into perspective.

Revenue in the Smart Home market amounts to 84.6 Billion USD in 2020.

Revenue is expected to show an annual growth rate (CAGR 2020–2023) of 18.2%, resulting in a market volume of 139.9 Billion USD by 2023.

Household penetration is 9.3% in 2020 and is expected to hit 16.7% by 2023.

To put it in a nutshell, Smart homes consists of homes with devices that are connected to the cloud or internet and make condition-based decisions according to the preference set by the user. Here to be exact, we are referring to devices beyond phones, laptops and computer which are usually connected to the internet. These devices can be used to control things like temperature, climate, energy usage, security, daily use appliances and much more. You have to tell the system what you want and forget about it. The connected network of devices will do everything for you. But, lately, things have gotten more interesting. With the age of big data and AI, the system can talk back to you and tell you what you want.

Rise of Internet of Things

Smart homes fall under a broader category Tech of ‘Internet of Things’. Internet of Things refers to anything that is connected to the internet. With the advent of smaller and cheaper chips coupled with wireless connectivity, literally, everything can be brought into the IoT umbrella. These devices often consist of a sensing or acting component to measure or carry out an action. The signal of measurement or action is sent to the device over the Internet. Though the phrase ‘Internet of Things’ was first coined by Kevin Ashton for the first time in 1999, the technology did not take up for another decade. RFID Tags were among the earliest applications. Since then, the technology has become cheaper, faster and more reliable for its successful integration in almost all modern manufacturing and industrial setup. The last decade saw IoT making its way to our homes and its expected that this is going to be a big change in the way we buy and use devices in our homes. Tech analyst company IDC predicts that in total, there will be 41.6 billion connected IoT devices by 2025, or “things.”

What are the most popular Smart Home integrations?

Home Automation is a subset of Smart homes where devices are equipped to operate automatically rather than needing a user to control to manually. These Automated devices, when connected to the internet, make the home ‘Smart’. The devices and applications which make a home smarter can broadly be divided into these categories.

Source: Economic Times

Energy Management — These consist of devices to measure and optimize the usage of utilities like energy, water. These mostly consist of a meter to measure individual or collective usage which is reported to the user. The data is used to manage the time and other settings of appliances to conserve water and electricity.

Comfort and Lighting — Smart switches, bulbs, temperature and climate control are some of the examples in this category. This also consists of smart mattresses, wellness and fitness applications which track daily inputs from users to meet pre-decided goals. There has also been an addition of wearable which try to tracks vitals and location of the users in the home and outside.

Entertainment and Media — This forms the biggest and the most popular chunk of smart devices in homes as of today. Voice and Gesture Control to central connected network of multiple devices which have personalized profiles for all members in the house.

Control and Connectivity — Ordering food, cabs, accessing news, managing waste and work (to some extent) is now available on voice-controlled home assistants. Almost all of the devices in the home can be potentially connected accessed via a phone app.

Security — Companies in this category offer monitoring indoor and outdoor spaces with cameras which is often accessible from any point via the internet. Some systems are equipped with advanced monitors and sensors to detect fire, floods, or other property damage and help protect your home.

Smart Appliances — Home appliances like washing machines, refrigerators, waste bins and kitchen appliances are now being connected to the network to make things ready for the user even before we reach our home.

Lets further look into some of the exciting companies that are working in this space -

Amazon

Source: Amazon

Amazon’s Alexa is the leader of the smart home market. Some of the integrations that are already available in the market include smart cameras, security systems, thermostats, smart displays, smart locks, light bulbs, smart plugs and many more. The assistant is also integrated with several eCommerce and online media services. Amazon has been trying to make an entire ecosystem of smart devices, they have acquired security and home-automation vendor Ring for nearly $1 billion, very shortly after acquiring smart camera maker Blink in December 2017.

Google Home

Google Home is number two in the market with it losing its share to the rise of amazon’s Alexa. Here too, there is an entire ecosystem of devices that a homeowner can choose from including Google Nest Hub (smart display and assistant), smart speaker, light thermostats, plugs, cameras, security systems.

Most of the independent companies have their devices compatible with the home assistants by Amazon and Google.

Nest started with a smart thermostat which self-adjusted the output based on user setting to save energy and cost to the homeowner. After being acquired by Google, the company has moved into smart security and detectors in homes.

Cocoon uses AI-powered Cameras to detect changes and disturbances at home to alert the owner via the mobile app.

August has eliminated the need to carry keys by using encrypted digital virtual keys.

Innit suggest meals to the user based on the nutrition information and data about past meals.

Tado a startup from Germany, offers a smart thermostat, which — based on a user’s location data — turns off heating when nobody is at home. It also allows users to pre-heat their houses before arrival.

Wattio a Spanish startup, offers a smart home system comprised of a series of wireless devices that collect data through smartphone apps. With this system, users can monitor the energy use of different home appliances and switch them off remotely.

Flo Technologies uses an AI-powered flow measurement system which detects abnormal water usage patterns to avoid water wastage via leaks and potential water damage.

Sensibo acts like a smart remote controller to multiple air conditioners in the home. The device can be used directly without any additional wiring up with the already installed ACs.

Sense is an electricity monitoring system that learns how your home consumes energy and helps make it more energy-efficient.

I have mentioned only a few products here. There are many more companies that are coming up with several exciting products. Check them our here.

Challenges for Smart Homes

Smart homes, in particular, falls in the category of tech where its fundamental nature has led to several concerns which have been limiting its growth and widespread acceptance. I have highlighted some of the concerns here.

Security — With the massive amount of data being stored about our personal lives, security for Smart Homes has been one of the biggest concerns. The degree of damage with data breaches will vary with the type and use of smart devices. Privacy — Personalization has come with a cost of Privacy. Users have been reluctant to have devices listening (and storing) to their private data even if that meant more convenience. Applications which serve the purpose with a lesser level of intrusive have been a focus in this market for the last few years. Device Compatibility — Compatibility of sensors, and the smart components with older devices (which were not designed to be smarter) without additional cost is a challenge. Cost — Though the cost has dropped significantly over the last decade, majority of the population is developing countries still consider the price of these setups to be more than the value they add to their daily lives. Accuracy — Systems relying on human voice or gesture input are still suffering accuracy issues which often leaves the users annoyed. Ecosystems and Cross-Platform Integration — There are too many options available in the market today. Companies are trying to create their own ecosystems to lock in the users to their products for future upgrades. Reliability and Failure — The connected nature of the system makes it more prone to the simultaneous failing of multiple devices. The dependence on connectivity to the internet decreases the reliability even further, also limiting the scope of application of these devices.

Conclusion

The demand for Smart Homes has been on the rise. People are looking for devices that can give them more information, control and convenience. With the issues addressed with appropriate technology and regulation, Smart Homes might soon become an integral part of our daily lives.

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