Many companies out there are offering “device control” versus “automation”. Device control tends to be less costly and offers far less in options and capabilities along with very little flexibility. Exactly what is it, we will explain.
Device control is taking control over one specific device at a time. A device could be a light switch, a thermostat, a pool pump, a garage door and/or a television. Many companies such as AT&T, Comcast and ADT, offer mobile apps to handle such device control. We believe there are three steps to control:
- Manual control – walk to a light switch and turning it on or off
- Device control – controlling a device through an interface such as an app on a mobile phone or a computer
- Automation – using a controller with logic and sensors combined with device control
Right now quite a few companies offer device control. This is all great except there is no real “intelligence” with the system. You have the same control over the switch as you always had except you are just using remote interface to do it now. What we offer is full logic and interactive control or as we call it “Automation”.
Consider these two real world examples:
Device Control – You have Company “A” App based service. You arrive home and hit the garage door button on your phone. You now turn on the garage entry light with your phone because it is late at night when you arrive. This is now the second action on the phone/app. Third you unlock the door to the entry of the house. Fourth you now turn on hallway lights with the phone/app. Fifth you turn on lights in the master bedroom as you wish to change out of business attire. Sixth you use phone/app to turn on bathroom lights. Seventh you turn on closet lights to hang up clothes and change. Eighth you now use the phone/app to turn off all lights you have turned on and now (ninth step) pick up a new remote to turn on the TV and news.
Automation – You arrive home and hit ONE button on your pocket remote. The garage door opens, lights in the garage turn on as our system knows it is night time and you need assisted lighting. Next the system unlocks the door since you have authenticated through the use of your remote for the garage. It automatically starts a delay and a timer to allow you to walk in, through the hallway and to your bedroom. Meanwhile our motion detectors detect the garage door opening and the garage door being unlocked so they go into smart mode and when they detect motion they turn on the lights for you automatically. These same lights will cut off when they do not detect motion for a specific period of time with no “button pushing” from you. The bathroom sensors and the closet sensors automatically detect you and turn lights on with no physical command and then turn off when needed.You pick up our full sized remote and take full control over your entire house with one device. Our remote (as in the same TV remote you are used to) can control lights, thermostats, movie projectors, garage doors, pool pumps, music and so much more. Hard to believe, but it is true. This is live and really happening now.
What most people do not know is that to have full automation as we described above is just marginally more cost than some of the manual control systems that others offer.
We are the definition of “Automation”. What can we do for you to make your life easier?