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Return of HAL or an Echo of the past
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First posted on July 16, 2015
Being smart is part of today’s trend. Technology these days makes it easier for us to perform some tasks. Smartphones and other gadgets make our life much simple and no doubt add some experience to it. However, your home also needs some attention and Home automation can provide that much needed modernisation. It can include a number of things like the control of lighting & appliances, more adaptive heating control, added security and other systems which enable you to have all the comfort and security whilst improving the energy efficiency of your home.
There is nothing new about home automation, X10 was developed back in 1975 by Pico Electronics in Scotland. The technology has been improved and is still useful for home automation projects today. Increasingly the demand is for affordable products which are reliable and easy to use. These devices can be controlled using your smartphones as well as tablets and computers. What else could you want.? Well, one of these home automation devices you may of heard about is the Amazon Echo.
Amazon Echo is a small and cylindrical in shape with a 9-inch speaker and 7 piece Microphone array. It’s basically a command device that as the name shows is from amazon.com. This device contains many functions like answering questions, music playing, providing news, weather, traffic and sports reports, as well as controlling other smart devices using voice commands. However at the moment this is limited to Wink, WeMo and Phillips Hue devices
The device gets started as soon as it notices the wake word. When in default mode, the device initiates and responds to the name “Alexa”, nonetheless, this can be changed once the user knows how to operate it. Though till now there are only two options, one Alexa and other Amazon.
This device is an interesting choice for those interested in home automation for their home, however you have to wonder if this is another way for Amazon to sell product, as another feature is the ability to purchase products from them
Voice command has been available for some time now with varying degrees of success and has not previously been taken up in a big way. For the serious Home automation user you may want to look at Homey a far more versatile device than Echo, providing control of a vast range of devices like Z-wave, Zigbee, X10, 433Mhz modules, Infrared and more.
We may not be at the stage of HAL from 2001: A space Odyssey but technology is moving in that direction!
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Disclaimer This article has been modified from it's original form by UK Automation with permission from Kevin Boone. We have provided links to relevant products in our shop where they are mentioned by Kevin Boone. Kevin Boone does not in any way endorse or recommend our products. To view the article in it's original [...]
