SMART HOME: WHAT IT MEANS AND HOW TO CREATE IT

In collaboration with Bticino

What does "smart home" mean

This is not the first time we hear about the smart home: it is a terminology that has crept into common speech and that we hear more and more often. But what is meant by smart home? And above all, is a smart home born like this or can we transform our home into a smart home? To understand how close it is to us, we must first understand what its meaning is. The term "smart home", or smart home, refers to a house in which some technological components are perfectly integrated and connected and can be managed by a smartphone or voice device, even remotely. Specifically, it means that some appliances, such as light or roller shutters, can be managed even when we are not at home. But how can we act via smartphone or voice commands on these objects? Simple, the important thing is that they are connected to a wifi network and to our smartphone (there are special apps). You know those Hamletic doubts that, after 30 minutes of leaving the house, we do not remember if we have turned off all the lights or have we activated the alarm? If ours were a smart home, it would be enough to open the app to make all the necessary investigations, or simply activate alerts so, in case of problems, we receive a message that warns us live! It doesn't seem like a real one. revolution, able to reassure the most anxious but also to pamper the laziest? Yes, because if you have a smart home, it is even possible to open the gate, to those who ring our intercom, sitting directly on the sofa! A dream, true ?

Smart home and home automation: what are the differences?

Many believe that, to have a smart home, it is necessary to completely disassemble and renovate it in order to make it "smart". In reality, this belief arises from confusing smart home and home automation. Let's say that one does not preclude the other, but undoubtedly the difference is of a structural type, that is:

If I opt for a smart home, I will have a house in which some independent objects (we are talking about IoT, or Internet of Things) will be connected to the wifi and I can also manage them from a smartphone and remotely. To have a smart home I will not have to do any wiring work or, depending on what I choose, some small interventions may be required to install or refine the functionality of the objects. Once the house is smart, I will be able to manage lights, shutters, power sockets, thermostats, alarm systems through a click or even through voice commands.
If I opt for home automation, I will have a house in which all the systems are integrated thanks to a wiring system which, even in this case, will allow me to manage them even remotely with a click. Unlike the smart home, home automation therefore provides for the restructuring of the systems, which however allows a complete customization of the functions based on your needs and a greater number of devices that can be integrated into a single control point. I will be able to create real scenarios to which my house will respond: I am back home, at 20:00, I enter the driveway and the sprinkler stops watering, the house temperature rises to 22 °, I open the door. house and the lights come on, as well as the perimeter alarm. Basically, with home automation the house is automated and meets our needs in the round!

In short, the main difference between home automation and smart home lies in the fact that home automation provides for structural changes that are certainly more demanding than the modification of some objects envisaged in case you want to transform your home into a smart home!

Devices and technology for a smart home

To have a smart home we need two or even three very simple technologies that are now part of our daily life: an internet connection, a smartphone and, if desired, a device such as Google Home or Alexa, to which you can give voice commands. To these basic technologies, then, we must associate devices in turn able to connect to wifi and to our smartphone (via app). We can opt for just one device, but also to revolutionize them all and make our home 360 ° smart. Here are the devices we can make smart:

The electrical system: to create a smart system, with which you can control lights, shutters, power sockets (even individually), just install devices interconnected and connected to the network, with which it will also be possible to create scenarios (which coordinate "thematically" all these devices according to needs).
The video door phone: just install a smart video door phone with which we can open the gate even comfortably seated on the sofa or while we are organizing the wardrobe. You know that unpleasant sensation of insistence that the intercom creates in us that goes crazy because we can't open the gate in time? Well, forget it! We can do this by opening the app from our smartphone in any part of the house, even very far from the open button!
The thermostat: this type of device, if intelligent, is a real convenience. It allows us to manage the temperature of the house even kilometers away. Are you traveling and the sudden cold hits your home town? Do not worry, from the app you can raise the temperature when you return and find the house nice and warm. Likewise: did you go out in a hurry one morning and forgot the heaters on? A notification will alert you and you can turn them off at any time! In short, in addition to the practical aspect, energy saving is also very important.
The intelligent audio system allows you to broadcast music to any part of the house, from any source. It will also be possible to access all the music sources you have available (streaming music but also podcasts and radio stations) and adjust and manage them as you prefer!
The Smart Life Saver is a real friend of safety: at any time, and wherever we are, it alerts us with a notification in case of breakdowns, power outages, problems with the refrigerator or the heating system. In this way we will be able to intervene in time, even remotely, and limit all risks!

The advantages of a smart home

The smart home, in short, is a real revolution, which follows the dynamics of "everything at hand" cleared by smartphones and expands them with features that represent a real added value that can simplify our life. So what are the concrete advantages of a smart home? Mainly there are three: security, because thanks to the technologies implemented in smart homes we can monitor the state of our home in case of problems and intervene promptly; comfort, because with our smartphone we can create combinations of lights, temperature and music that perfectly reflect our mood; last, but not least, energy and economic savings in the long term, a real panacea for the environment and for our wallets! In short, have we convinced you?