The Smart House: Dream or Nightmare?

The smart home is slowly becoming a reality and is about to change our lives. For the best or for the worst?

Long called "house of the future", the "smart home" already exists. With the proliferation of connected objects, our homes are more and more automated and "smart". The future is here, in front of us. Following the principles of home automation, the idea is to communicate the equipment of the house - shutters, radiators, light bulbs, thermostats, gates, cameras. Thanks to sensors, the "Smart Home" regulates energy consumption, protects burglars, and will soon inform you of the contents of your fridge.

The tools for remote control of connected objects have been developing for 5 or 6 years, whether they are the smart home kit from Xiaomi, Digoo or Brillo - that allow home appliances (remotely controllable) to communicate with each other. Now, Xiaomi releases its Xiaomi smart home kit has provided customers with a great smart home experience.

Networked devices, not a miracle

Communicating your equipment has many interests - first and foremost, the best energy management in our homes. To give you an idea, let's look at the "typical day" of a Smart Home, as imagined by the Wizarding Spirit and the CEA.

In the morning, you wake up gently: your alarm clock, which is coordinated with your agenda, rings, while the shutters open by themselves, and that the heating is already turning in the bathroom. When you leave, you tell your home that you are leaving with a small wall-mounted housing (or with your smartphone): a program starts, the lights go out, the heating stops, the doors are locked. Before going home, at night, you will tell your home remotely. The heating will be at the right temperature when you arrive, and the lights will come on as you pass.

And that's not to mention all these other features that make your home so "smart"; starting with the thermostats, which measure the temperature to better regulate it. With sensors, they also record your whereabouts and learn from your habits to "customize" the heating. On the security side, thermal imaging cameras are already tracking any movement, even in the dark, to detect any intrusion. Soon, sensors should even be able to detect the falls of the elderly, so that the system prevents help. Even your fridge, "smart" can, tomorrow, warn you (by SMS) in the event that food is out of date, or if your tomato stock is almost empty.

This miracle is possible through the cooperation of a host of networked devices, which communicate with each other via WiFi, Bluetooth, radio waves or electrical cables. Certainly, as recalls Michael Pessina, Lutron Electronics, the Smart Home should remain a certain time reserved for "techies". But once the interest of the smart home becomes "as obvious" to people as that of the connected car, "it will be difficult to go back," said Mathieu Gallissot, an expert in digital technologies for housing at the CEA -LET I.

Privacy, Assisted Living: Ethical Issues

When the smart home becomes widespread, our way of living in everyday life will be upset ... inevitably posing ethical questions. One immediately thinks of the risks of being carried away (in the name of safety and comfort) entirely by connected objects, moved by algorithms - at the risk of becoming passive, and even less autonomous than before. As if we were already not sufficiently guided by our machines, we would climb a notch, becoming totally assisted by "smart" objects, never safe from bugs or errors ...

There is also the question of privacy. Because a smart home is a mine of data, which says a lot. Thus, the analysis of the energy consumption of a household can reveal details about their habits, their schedule ... and to know when they are not at home.

An episode of "Mr. Robot" shows a smart home hacked by hackers - like a haunted house. It's not a fantasy: door locks, alarm systems or cameras can be hacked to help prepare for a burglary or monitor the inhabitants. But rest assured, manufacturers are investing heavily in cybersecurity to solve the problem.

The risk remains to be watched by the authorities. "If the police suspect me, she will access the images from my camera?" , Asks ReadWrite. Note that your data may still be sent to companies hidden behind home automation systems.

Whether you find it fascinating or terrifying, the smart house does not leave indifferent, and challenges. For the time being, there are no ethics committees for home automation, controlling the use of data or reflecting on it. So, when will there be a big public debate, to give us greater control over the connected objects that will make up our future smart homes?