How is Smart Home Technology changing the way we live?

Cumulative Findings and Analysis

Figure 39 Cumulative Data Findings and Analysis points | Source: Author

5.1 Smart Technology and User Perception

The field of smart home technologies is gaining ubiquity with increasing development but the survey conducted and reports from companies such as Comcast suggests that there still exists low reliability of the masses on these technologies. This can be further supported by the findings of the survey that demonstrates people’s concern for safety and security. There are also concerns for loss of privacy and control.

As illustrated by Hamill, there is a trend of capital replacing labour but this is only in the case where abundant capital is available. People who have restricted reserves of capital prefer spending on leisure activities. In the Smart Home Case Studies undertaken, the secondary case studies which were experimental homes and exhibition centres, the chore relieving smart technologies were less (maximum 50% in Aware Home) while the primary virtual case studies showed a higher percentage (up

to 70% in Ashley Renne’s home). This can be attributed to the fact that the inhabited smart homes need to more holistically tend to the daily needs of its residents. In the current day, smart technologies have been found to be capital extensive and hence despite a want to upgrade to a comfortable, smart home life, the people are unable to afford them.

While there are concerns for privacy, control and security, there exists also a gap in user knowledge that is identified in the survey conducted which further hinders the user perception with exaggerated stigmas and fears of smart technologies.

The purchase of smart technologies for the masses has been a reaction to their needs and aspirations, and hence a preference towards smart, automated and money saving HVAC and lighting systems can be observed. There are also trends of purchase of smart technology systems largely among technology enthusiasts and masses with smart technology awareness.

The survey undertaken also highlights the need for comfort of older age groups and henceforth their choice of increased automation of daily routines and household tasks while the younger population aspires for a more energy efficient house as they can themselves manage the daily chores and therefore prefer smart technologies that save capital, over time.

Figure 40 “Just because it can be, doesn’t mean it should be.” Keeping this in mind, rate the following features in your home from 1-5 with 1 least likely to and 5 most likely to in your opinion be controlled remotely from another device say, your smartphone? | Source: Survey Findings, Appendix – III, Author

5.2 Domestication of Smart Technology

In principle, Domestication of Smart Technologies increases with increasing user friendliness and empowerment offered. The key goal should be that smart technologies perpetually control the busy routines and not the users. With the use of increasingly ubiquitous technologies, the smart home can be made future proof; another attribute that increases the degree of domestication. The retrofit and massproduced smart devices and services are more likely to be future proof as they are standardised and upgradable. The increasing efficiency and reliability of voice assistants is also playing a major role in the process of domestication.

Through the medium of literature review, the following factors have been identified to have a key role in the domestication of smart home technologies.

5.3 Smart Technology and Social Trends

The people prefer simple over complicated. The idea of smart is only observed to take off when there is an actual need for it. Remote access, coordination and automation of tasks is mainly maintained via screens and coordination displays which enable the users to overlook the processes undertaken by the smart homes. As predicted by Harper, with the development of Natural Language Processing, voice assistants are gaining popularity as preferred methods of instruction of smart home technologies (as also noted in the case study “What’s Inside? Family”). Safety and security being one of the major concerns for residents, the devices and services identified with it are observed to have the most interactive capabilities to maintain trust and reliability of the users. The smart technologies should not all be automated but offer options for

regulated automation and interaction to ensure the ones’ control over the same and not the other way around. The visual display and online dashboards are some good practices for ensuring users’ control. The control of the smart home is becoming more accessible and ubiquitous with the increasing number of smartphones and tablets in the market.

New technologies act as disrupters when introduced but with time, use and ubiquity merges them into the daily routines of the users. With the increasing digitisation of the house, one’s social capabilities extend manifold. While this can be seen as intrusive, it is under the users’ control that this can be restricted and reprimanded as their perusal.

Figure 41 General relation of privacy and types of Smart home Technology Scenarios | Source: Author

The idea of privacy within the smart home as explored in the case studies, demonstrates that privacy is further undermined in the case of a centralised control room/ centre while options for cloud storage and computing can offer a more private alternative. In the case of a home with children and pets, it is still ideal to have a centralised override access to safeguard them and ensure their safety.

Figure 42 Traditional Generic Spatial Segregation | Source: Author

Figure 43 Digital Smart Interventions transforming private spaces to less private as a user comfort trade-off. | Source: Author

In the survey conducted, it was highlighted that people prefer that each space should have functions available to each resident based on their level of maturity and responsibility in the house while entertainment based and simpler functional technologies should be made universally accessible to all residents.

5.4 Smart Technology and Spatial Trends

The locating of smart home technologies should be as such that it complements ones’ daily routines and habits while also should be in accordance to the habitual functional usage within the home. There is also a focus of smart home technologies on blurring the thresholds of activity spaces by providing for similar tasks to take place together. These trends are confirmed in findings of the virtual case studies conducted.

Furthermore, the findings from the case studies points towards the following relationships of spaces and task coordination as per user comfort and habits –1. Hallways – Smart Thermostats, Smart Lighting Remote and Smart Screen

Coordination 2. Bedrooms – Security, Start of day chores, End of day chores and Selective Social

Interactions 3. Living Room, Dining Room and Kitchen – Security, Daily Need and Major Social

Coordination and Interactions

Trends of coordination help identify a shift to a more voice-based communication between the users and the smart home as a means of increasing ubiquity of the smart home technologies. There is also a clear shift towards using ones’ smartphones and tablets for remotely controlling smart devices. For the touch-based coordination devices, the size of the display for coordination is found to be roughly proportional to the number of users in the vicinity of its placement. This trend can be supplemented by the provision of voice enabled assistants but the need for an interactive dashboard display cannot be overlooked. Based on the spatial need, the requirement for an input only/ input & output/ output only smart device is decided. Ideally, the “input only” devices are not promoted but rather interactive devices are opted for due to their dual capabilities.

The Smart Home is not restricted to the walls of the house but is boundless since one can control various aspects of the house remotely from any location with an internet connection.

5.5 Smart Technology and the Effect on Architecture of the Home

The architecture of the smart home is observed to be evolving to cater to increasing data capacities. This is through designated server/ control rooms in cases of utilisation of high security and control measures and increasing number of optics and fibre cables alongside increased electrification. More plugs, sockets, faster and more accessible

internet connections for starters are the basic requirements for creating an efficient smart home.

There is a visible increase in the number of robotic devices around the home and the spatial aspects will be required to adapt and maximise their efficiency. An example of a cleaning Roomba can be taken which in itself can navigate through changing surfaces in the house but needs some clear space available to access the floor areas and perform its cleaning function. While there would be more adaptation towards these smart home robots, there is still some changes that can potentially emerge as a result of the architecture of the house adapting to these smart robots.

Figure 44 IoT and Smart Technologies Dependencies | Source: Author

When designing a smart home, the smart home can be that of a Purely Overlay Retrofit Type (as Ashley Renne’s smart home) which would include market bought smart sensors and devices, and subscription-based services. The only requirement for these would be a fast internet connection and electrical connections. The second type of smart home can be an Architectural Overlay Retrofit Type which would include some architecture treatment to the installed market bought devices. While the smart home devices available in the market are largely designed to match various architectural aesthetics, an architectural oversight to these installations is sometimes required (as

also noted in the case study “What’s Inside? Family” with the smart blinds and hidden speakers). The final type of smart home that can be categorised is one designed from the Ground Up. This type of smart home is a resilient hub for smart home devices and houses provisions for robust surveillance, control and automation (as noted in the case study “What’s Inside? Family”). A control room can be designed for centralising data storage, processing and coordination under this type of smart home.

Figure 45 Smart Home Types identified on the nature of interaction of technology and architecture | Source: Author

5.6 Essential Character of a Smart Home

The essence of a smart home lies in the improvement of quality of life of its residents via the deployment of smart technologies. The essentials for a smart home are a fast internet connection and apt electricity provision. Furthermore, given the pervasive nature of smart home technologies, the Smart home should be domesticated.

While in terms of appearance, there is a vast difference in a smart home and a regular home, the fundamental idea of a home remains the same. It is hence eminently necessary to understand the complexity of the home and its fundamentals of morals, culture, traditions, practices, values, routines and memories as these formulate the identity of the home.

only communicate and coordinate, but also create and consume media via the internet.

Chapter 06: Conclusion and Way forward

The smart technologies assume daily life of the users’ as specific and repetitive, while it is on the contrary, organic, opportunistic and improvisational. Artificial Intelligence as a field is showing promise but it is still unable to comprehend the full gamut of human emotion. As at the time of this dissertation, a universally essential smart technology does not exist, as the definition of essential is variable. The closest technology one can identify as essential is the smartphone which has the ability to not

A general trend of increasing connectivity, better privacy and security, integration of voice assistants, enhanced functionality and ubiquity of artificial intelligence is clear. But despite these, there is also an increasing effort of going off the energy grid using smart solar and other in-sync smart energy technologies. A number of such smart home trends and their implications have been identified within this dissertation based on the current world scenario and the current state of smart home technologies. The field of Smart Homes is ultimately a technology-based industry and therefore will grow with technological innovations and progress. Moving from touch to voice in coordination, the next trend to gain popularity could be augmented reality.

Moore’s law gives us a good idea of how rapid the growth of this industry can be especially when it is found that the actual growth of the industry is nearly outpacing it. Hence this dissertation hopes to function as the basis for future sociotechnical research in the field of smart homes where innovations are just beginning to emerge as artificial intelligence prepares to break out of its nativity.