4 ms·

Ask HN: Home Automation businesses?

• noodle 17y ago
  i think that the only way that it will become a seriously profitable business that will be useful to the masses, not just the rich and famous, is if someone could justify it via a cost-benefit analysis. prove that whatever you're going to do will be worth the customers' money. otherwise, if its just frivolousness, you'll stay inside the realm of the people with the money to toss around.
  • herval 17y ago
    I always see that as the main argument for companies that sell home automation: you will save X in energy, save Y in time... What if people WANT frivolity? Look at the web: the most popular websites are all basically focused on chatting with people and watching silly videos. Maybe something like Boxee (who takes the usual appletv thingie and turns it into a 'social' stuff) would tickle? (can't think of anything interesting enough though - comparing your fridge with your neighbors is booooring at best!)
    • noodle 17y ago
      frivolity is bonus. save X energy in Y time will only convince some people. it also needs bells and whistles to become truly popular/successful. some sort of hook.
• brk 17y ago
  Been there, done that. The industry and market-base is still way too fractured. One of the biggest limiting factors is that in order to be very useful and functional, there has to be a moderate degree of programmability in the device that is acting as the server/controller for the home. This limits the effective market to geeks and tinkerers, who are also the most common build-vs-buy crowd. Homeowners, in the general sense, do not want to pay monthly fees for service and are leery of installing a system that controls their home that they feel they have little or no personal control or understanding of. Where the HA industry has seen some decent business is in specialized lighting and HVAC control systems.
  • herval 17y ago
    with the current tendency of cheaper and cheaper netbooks (and small cpus in general), I guess programmability is quite attainable, no? BTW, what do you think of the microsoft home initiative?
    • brk 17y ago
      The programmability of the systems has always been attainable. Even back in 1995 when I got started in HA there were several choices for relatively cheap/flexible controllers. The problem has been that the stereotypical homeowner does NOT want to program anything. VCR's blinking "12:00" was the joke of the 90's, and the concept is still true today, even if VCR's don't really exist anymore. Can you imagine the average person wanting to program an HA system? Telling it when to turn lights on and off, how to factor in shifting sunrise/sunset times, occupancy sensors and the like? It's very very difficult to make a system that is both powerful and simple, unless you break it down to a very very basic function. Most people would love an automated home experience, but the setup is daunting. Especially when you consider all the edge cases... Turn on the interior lights at 30 minutes before dusk, but not if we're away or out. Shut off the HVAC system or zone if a window is open, unless the door to that room is closed or the humidity is very high (like in a bathroom), and so on. I have personally found that if you don't carry the system logic far enough, it is just annoying and perceived as "stupid". In order to make the system very intelligent it needs to be rather complex and incorporate a lot of environmental (temperature, humidity, occupancy, seasonal, etc) inputs. Heave on top of all that there is no one system that covers all the basic sub-functions really well: - Phone - Security - Lighting - HVAC - Irrigation - A/V (multi-room or single room). - User Interface (remote controls, keypads, input/control panels, etc.). There are a some systems that do a couple of these well. HAI OmniPro alarm systems do a pretty good job with security, HVAC and lighting. Their audio is passable, but not great, and their irrigation is kind of lacking. The JDS Stargate is kind of outdated, but does a good job with lighting and basic I/O (relays, TTL inputs, etc.). It has no security, but integrates with Interlogix alarm panels. But, you pretty much have to program both devices independently. Russound makes great multi-room audio, and they have a robust serial interface, but not much direct plug-and-play capabilities. All of the various sub-systems seem to almost, but not quite, talk to each other. I've personally moved to an OSX based system (Indigo) and do apple-scripting to handle a lot of things. In the past, I had a JDS Stargage, HAI OmniPro, and PC running an application I wrote to handle email, web and IM interfacing to the Internet, plus some PIC-based stuff I build for other one-off sensors and interfaces to things. My stuff works well, and most people can use and understand it, but this is the result of no small bit of effort and many custom bits... Not exactly joe-consumer friendly. As for MS-home, they've been in and out of this space for 10 years. I don't expect much from them, and like most of their solutions, I find the approach too closed.
• mooism2 17y ago
  I can see home automation for the masses possibly coming in on the back of smart meters.
• DenisM 17y ago
  FWIW, my friends are working on home automation in this startup http://www.lagotek.com http://www.lagotek.com
• future09 17y ago
  What aspect of the industry are you thinking of getting in to? Security? Lighting? Media distribution? All of the above? Are you planning on installing a pre existing product line (eg cresteon, amx, control4) or creating a product like linux mce or misterhouse?
• CyberFonic 17y ago
  Integration is the big challenge. The proprietary solutions are either expensive or very limited. Open source solutions tend to be oriented towards DYIers with the right tools and attitude. As the 12:00 blinking VCR phenomena shows, the majority of people are just not into doing this sort of stuff for themselves. Only a full service solution will meet their needs and to do that well is very expensive and people change their mind when they find out how much it is going to cost. In 2009, it still is for the Rich and Famous and the DIYers.