Looking into the future: How far are we from smart home?

Have you ever imagined that, as shown in science fiction movies, you only need to speak out commands when you get home, without any secondary operations, and all the home appliances can operate as you expect. Although it sounds wonderful, there is often a distance between ideal and reality. So, how far is it before we can truly experience a smart home? Let's analyze it together.

What is a smart home ?

The word "smart" should sound familiar to you. In fact, intelligence is mainly a process of thinking, judging, learning, perceiving and executing that is performed by human beings. When the adjective "smart" is used before home, it means that home appliances will have the same characteristics. Smart home uses the house as a platform, and through integrated wiring technology, network communication technology, security technology, automatic control technology and audio and video technology, it combines the equipment we need in our lives to construct a scientific and efficient home management system.

Smart home can integrate home devices, home appliances, security systems, etc. into the network through the home Internet of Things, and provide multiple functions such as remote control, real-time monitoring, anti-theft devices, etc. of various facilities. First of all, home automation is an important part of smart home, and most of its contents are home appliances ( air conditioners , refrigerators , etc.) and home equipment. Although there are smart home appliances as the basis, if there is no line to connect them in series and cooperate with each other, they can only act independently, and the home Internet of Things effectively makes up for this. Through the Internet of Things, all the equipment in the home will be well controlled and integrated, and different types of furniture and equipment can be organically combined.

Problems facing smart homes

Smart home has always been called the next trillion-dollar market and has attracted the attention of major manufacturers a few years ago.

After acquiring Nest, Google also acquired Dropcam, Revolo smart home company and other companies, and released the Brillo IoT operating system. In response to the demand for wireless network connection in the home, Google opened the door to the home with the high-end router OnHub. Apple's Homekit smart home platform, launched in 2014, can integrate smart home appliances in the home and be controlled by Apple devices. In the 2016 WWDC, Apple announced the four major system deployment ecosystem strategies, which further consolidated the position of Homekit. In the future, users can use this platform to control any smart device in the home.

Haier released the Haier U+ Smart Life App in 2015 and announced the strategic release of Haier U+ Smart Life Platform 2.0 this year. Haier U+ Smart Life Platform uses artificial intelligence as its technical foundation and communicates with users through multiple recognition functions. It can also create a full-scenario home usage mode through the unique learning function of artificial intelligence and Haier big data.

Tencent's 2014 survey based on 50,338 samples showed that people willing to spend 5,000 to 100,000 yuan on smart homes accounted for nearly 60% of the total number of people surveyed. Therefore, it can be seen that people's pursuit of high-quality life is still moving forward, and the demand for smart homes is still there, but why are people still "daunted" by smart homes? Perhaps the reasons are the following.

First of all, the current level of intelligence of smart homes is insufficient, or there is a certain distance from what consumers imagine. When using smart homes, consumers often feel that they can use the product without or relying on a small part of the front-end operation. But in reality, current technology cannot support this. Currently, smart home appliances can only support remote control through Bluetooth or wireless networks. Although smart robots, which are common smart small appliances , are easy to use, they often have cleaning errors and are easily stuck by obstacles.

The price of smart home appliances is not competitive compared to similar products. Compared with the electrical appliances we usually use, the word "smart" seems to double the value. Take the door lock at home as an example. The price of an ordinary door lock that uses a key is about 100 yuan, while the price of a smart door lock that can recognize fingerprints and passwords will be more than ten times higher. Although smart door locks do have advantages such as being easy to use and no need to worry about forgetting to bring keys. But from the perspective of consumers, it is not cost-effective to buy non-essential goods at a high price.

It does not hit the pain points of consumers. There are many kinds of smart home products on the market, such as smart lights, smart sockets, smart remote controls and other devices. They have indeed improved the living standards of consumers, but their functions are often too single and cannot meet the increasingly diverse life needs of consumers.

On the other hand, from the practical point of view of smart home products, although the intelligent functions of each product are excellent, they are not compatible with the same platform, and the home Internet of Things has not been fully formed. This has led to the formation of "islands" between home appliances, and the operational sense has declined, which is particularly serious in smart home appliances. It is not enough to just connect users and products. At present, smart home products still cannot meet the needs of consumers in terms of "interconnection".

In addition, the security of smart homes has also become one of the problems faced by manufacturers. Smart homes collect information when users use them, and can provide the best services based on the user's habits and preferences. Although data collection is very necessary for smart homes, their hardware is very easy to be cracked, resulting in information leakage. At present, the only way to prevent audio leakage is to turn off voice control. For devices, the only way is to continuously upgrade the firmware to ensure safe use.

There is no unified standard for smart home appliances. Due to the ambiguity of relevant regulations in the industry, smart home appliances have different development directions. Manufacturers who are still in the exploratory stage may take some detours without clear guidance.

There may be only one word difference between wisdom and intelligence, but the meaning of the two words requires a lot of technology to support them. Although there is still a certain distance to go before a smart home, as people's living standards improve, the pursuit of high-quality life will also move forward significantly. Although smart homes are still in the early stages of development, as the market and technology continue to mature, smart homes will become the general trend of development.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.