What is the Current State of Home Automation?

StonyCreekBare writes "What do people have to say about the current state of Home Automation software? Preferably Linux based, but mainly the field in general, and principally the DIY flavors as opposed to the upscale turnkey systems. I am familiar with Misterhouse, HomeSeer and Automated Living's HAL2000, all of which have serious flaws and weaknesses, but which sometimes succeed well in specific areas. But in all cases, the state of the art seems to have moved little in the last decade. Is any interesting work being done in this space? Or should I just grab one of the three and try to mold it to fit my vision of what it should be? Misterhouse at least is open source so I can add new features, but it has not had an update in a long long time and seems to be missing some modern stuff. The other two are expensive and closed source, and from all I can see, quite flawed, not the least by their dependence on intimate ties to Microsoft. Yet they seem to offer a lot more than Misterhouse despite their weaknesses. Is the Home Automation field as bleak as it appears? Or have I missed the forest for the trees?" What home automation projects have people tackled? Any examples of wild success or failure?

Home automation

[sopssa]

Since you bought up the open source / closed source fight, if you want customization that Misterhouse might be good. You can then submit patches and updates for the project (it seems it's still sometimes updated, last time in 2008)

But because the other ones are closed source, it doesn't mean you cant add features in to them. HomeSeer supports 3rd party plug-in development and these kind of systems tend to be really configurable always.

Links?

[mcgrew]

A few links might have helped. I haven't heard of "Misterhouse" or any of the other stuff you mentioned. Don't assume lack of ignorance on anybody's part -- everybody is ignorant about something.

Same as linux on the desktop

[klubar]

Product is three to five years away and will be for the next twenty. (The answer is the same for fusion enery, except fusion is 5 to 10 years away and will be for the next twenty. Flying cars: 5 to 8 years. Specify your technology here...)

Or

[Colin Smith]

It's complex, expensive, unreliable and 99.99999% of the population don't think it's necessary.
 

Re:Wife 1.0

[Anonymous Coward]

I found that v3.0 to be much better then the previous versions, the 3.0 version includes such a vast feature sets like "cooking, cleaning, sex, full time work and mute button"

If you treated them like people, you wouldn't be on your third one, loser.

Re:Links?

[mcgrew]

This isn't twitter. Any tinyurl domain is assumed to go to goatse or worse.

Re:Wife 1.0

[Anonymous Coward]

You must be one of them gold digging versions.

Re:Doing it wrong

[mcgrew]

For example, cooking supper your toaster, oven, microwave, and stovetop could all supply timing and temperature information to the network, and you could make changes to each from your phone/console/ps3/etc.

Never has a subject line been so accurate... Look, it's pretty obvious that you have NEVER cooked anything. If you're cooking YOU'RE IN THE DAMNED KITCHEN! Why in hell would you want to access your kitchen appliances from a telephone or a videogame?

I want not only home automation, but my car, too. Why can't I call my car and tell it to start and run the heater or air? Why can't I look outside, see that it's starting to rain, and call my car and have it roll the windows up? For that matter why can't I roll up the windows without the key in the "run" position?

No -- lights, heat, air, DVR, are fine for networked automation, but not the kitchen. Automation in the kitchen is using a mixer instead of a spoon. If you're cooking, you're in the kitchen. No need for remote stuff there.

HA is a solution in search of a problem.

[johnthorensen]

The reason there's no 'good' home automation products is because there's not enough demand, pure and simple. At the end of the day, HA is 99% bling and maybe 1% utility. There's really only one 'problem' out there that HA-type technologies are suited to solving: energy. There are of course measureable ways to reduce a building's energy consumption through electronic controls. That said, there are plenty of ways that people have achieved this without delving into the realm of what's typically thought of as 'home automation'. Want to handle lighting based on occupancy? Buy a lightswitch with integrated PID for maybe $50. Want to handle climate control based on occupancy? Get a thermostat with a timer for $20 that will handle 98% of all circumstances. In the remaining 2%, walk your butt over and adjust the thermostat.

The primary difference between "Home Automation" systems and the sort of one-off solutions like thermostats and PID lightswitches is the network. Really, the advantages of having these devices know about one another in a practical environment are few-to-none.

Now, if you're the type that wants to have a girl over and impress her by pressing one button to dim the lights, close the curtains, and turn on the stereo, great. On the other hand, if you're the /. type who's taken the time to set up a system, you're probably paying her anyway so I doubt that's going to affect your chances of getting layed.

Re:Or

[mcgrew]

It's complex, expensive, unreliable and 99.99999% of the population don't think it's necessary.

That would have described a PC in 1981.

Re:Doing it wrong

[pnewhook]

The reason that the field hasn't developed or matured is that the approach being taken for most products is wrong.

Actually, the reason that the field hasn't developed or matured is that the approach is pointless.

Right now, without having any self configured computer in my house:

- my front and driveway lights turn on and off at dusk/dawn, automatically adjusting for sunrise and sunset (off the shelf gps timer)

- my thermostat adjusts the heat and A/C appropriately according to a schedule I programmed in. I can access this from the web if needed to check usage and adjust the temperature and schedule as I see fit (smart thermostat for TOD power use)

- my hi-def PVR records the shows I want whenever they happen to be on, even if they shift times. I can record at least three (haven't tried more) hi-def signals simultaneously (PVR that came with my cable)

I have no reason to do more than the above. I see no reason to have these networked. I see no reason or benefit to me spending money and time to try and duplicate what is already easily possible using inexpensive off the shelf components from Home Depot. I see no point in having a server running in my house 24/7 wasting power.

Re:Doing it wrong

[YrWrstNtmr]

So you are saying there IS a need for remote notification of this sort.

Yes. But integration into the whole house thing is counter productive.
The remote meat thermo does one thing, and does it well. I have the remote sitting on my desk. When cooking (on the grill or in the oven) I can see instantly what the internal temp is. Don't have to interrupt the movie (even with a popup/overlay), don't have to fish around in the iPhone (that I don't have)...don't have to do anything but glance at the remote readout. Oh, and I can do this literally anywhere in or out of the house. On the can, or on the deck...still have the remote with me.

Could this be integrated into a HA setup. See no reason why not. I'm sure I could get the RF to port to the PC, and then feed into the TiVo or all the screens in the house (because I may be anywhere). Except that it would be much harder to use and more expensive.

For $15 at wallyworld, it does one thing and does it well. For $35 at Amazon, I can get a dual probe monitor, to handle two different cuts or cooking levels.

The ease of use trumps, by far, fiddling around with a full PC based automation setup.

same with outside lights, etc. I have 3 motion sensor lights. Set up once, forget it. It turns on when someone comes up the drive. I don't have to set it when I leave work, or do anything. They turn off after a few minutes, only turns on at night...for a trivial amount of $$.

Unless you like tinkering for tinkerings' sake, individual components are far cheaper and easier.