Explore 72 Innovative Ideas for Automation, Smart Home & IoT!!

As we all know home automation (Smart Home or IoT) is an integral part of the process of homemaking nowadays. But this is an area that incorporates a lot of features, functionalities, and products. And for an end-user, this area is limited by the ideas of their installer/integrator. So to relieve the end-user from that limitation, here we provide a set of 72 innovative ideas related to home automation by Mr. Abinav Shankar (M.S. from USA, Founder & Owner of Skynet Automation).
Have an imaginative Living…

1. One-touch of a button that turns all lighting for a given room on/off; not just one light.
2. Double-tap the same button to turn everything (lighting, electronics, devices, etc.) in the room off.
3. Lights flash in your garage when someone rings the doorbell.
4. When then garage door opens after dark, the lights automatically turn on, leading up to your door.
5. Motion sensors in key areas can signal the automation system to switch off lights when a room has been vacant for a while.
6. Landscape lighting can turn on automatically at sunset and off again at sunrise.
7. A “Bedtime” scene can set bedside lamps at a level just low enough for comfortable reading.
8. With the touch of an “All Off” button, all of the lights in your entire home turn off.
9. Midnight snack – just enough light to make your way to the refrigerator and back without disturbing family members.
10. Motion sensing – At night, when motion is sensed, ramp lights to 15% (just enough light to see, not to be blinded).
11. Turn off lights automatically each morning when kids leave for school.
12. If the natural light in the room is less than 50%, lights adjust to 50%. If natural light is less than 40%, lights adjust to 60%, and so on.  This helps when the shades are drawn, or on a cloudy day in the middle of summer.
13. Landscape lighting – have the lights come on brighter at sunset, but dim to 20% at 11 pm to conserve energy.

14. Stream music to every room in your home, with a dedicated keypad place in each room.
15. Push all of your stored music throughout the home via distributed audio zones accessed through your smartphone, keypads, and touch screens.
16. Tap a button on a keypad to activate a zone of music. If you tap the music, it can change the LED to an assigned color for each family member (with their favourite playlist/settings).
17. Double-tap the volume button to turn off an audio zone.
18. Music starts automatically in the bathroom when you turn on the shower lights.
19. Install a touch screen behind a waterproof wall mount in your shower to control music streaming in the shower.
20. Program your own “His and Her” audio settings.  Time each to correspond with the time of day, designated keypad buttons, or audio zones.
21. Create a “Music” scene, which sets the lights at 30% and volume at your favourite level.

22. A “Party” scene – create instant ambiance with the press of a button with lighting that illuminates key decorative elements and a customized playlist that starts up automatically.
23. Someone drops in unexpectedly? No worries. Get notified when guests arrive by broadcasting a chime through the audio zone’s speakers where the party’s at.
24. Use your iPad to tell the refrigerator when you’re out of ice, so it can ramp up production.
25. Automatically lock your home’s front and rear doors when a movie starts.
26. When you press play, dim the lights gradually over 7 seconds.
27. When you press pause, bring the lights up by 30%.
28. With the press of a button, a 4K Ultra High Definition TV ascends on a motorized lift from a cabinet, motorized speakers in the ceiling tilt downward, a surround-sound system activates, the shades close and the lights dim.
29. Program your golf simulation room to double as a home theatre.
30. Have every TV in your home automatically turn on to your favourite channel when you come home from work after opening the garage door.
31. Set the volume of a child’s TV to a preset level.
32. A “Good Night” scene, which provides a push notification on your kids’ iPad to turn off their TVs. The lights in each bedroom flash as a warning and 10 minutes later the TVs switch off automatically.
To understand multimedia automation in detail visit “To eliminate Complexity of Multiple Devices and focusing on Enjoyment”

33. Automate your bedroom touch screen to see who’s at the door when the bell rings.
34. When the doorbell is pressed, “Who can it be now” plays through speakers, the security camera rotates to the front door, the TV or movie is paused, and if it’s night time, the outside patio light turns on from 20% to 75%.
35. Watching TV when someone rings the doorbell? Have an image from the surveillance camera appear on any TV that happens to be on, pausing the TV show or movie for 15 seconds.
36. Built–in alerts which will notify you if the front door is left open for longer than five minutes or if the front gate is ajar for longer than ten.
37. Access security video feed remotely from your smartphone, from anywhere in the world.
38. Receive a text when your security cameras detect motion.
39. Create a “Cat” scene, which will temporarily disarm your security system and trigger outdoor lights for the feline’s night time sojourns outside.
40. Program the lights (including in the master shower) to flash three times when an exterior door opens.
41. If there’s a security breach, program every light in the house to illuminate to 100%. Simultaneously, the front door automatically locks, the motorized shades open and every TV displays views from all surveillance cameras.
42. You may program strategically to place surveillance cameras to stream security videos on TVs and touch screens when instructed to do so.
43. “Mockupancy” scenes – lighting that is automated to make the house appear occupied, when you’re away on a trip.
44. Are you away, but want to give guest access to your home? Create temporary access codes for your guests, which they can punch into your home’s smart locks, notifying you of their arrival.
45. Set a timer that closes the garage door automatically if it is left open for longer than 10 minutes. A motion sensor can be used to keep the door open when you’re working in the garage.
46. Driveway motion sensor – when motion is sensed, cameras go to the home position and start recording, outside lights ramp up, and text message alerts are sent to smart devices.
47. Forget to lock your doors? – Program the doors to auto–lock three minutes after the garage door closes when you leave for work.
48. When the back door to the garage opens, turn on the inside garage lights if natural lighting is below 50%.
49. When the garage door is closed and the motion sensor to the garage zone doesn’t detect motion, dim lights to zero over 10 seconds and lock the back door.

50. Install a card access contact in the mailbox – when mail gets delivered, the AOL theme “you’ve got mail” plays throughout the home, the LEDs on the lighting turn red, and text messages are delivered to smart devices.
51. Receive a text alert when a garage door is left open.
52. Receive an automatic text alert for a problematic event, such as a pipe leak in the basement.
53. Need to be reminded to take out the trash? Program a notification to appear on every touchscreen and mobile device at the same time once a week.
54. Get a notification on your smart device when the oven has preheated.
55. Instead of waiting up for teenagers to come home, automate your lights to turn on in your bedroom when they come through the front door. You can also set it up so your phone notifies you when the door is locked again.
56. Get a text message or push notification when the kids get home from school.
57. Get notified when the liquor cabinet has been opened.
58. Receive a notification when motion has been detected in a specific room (such as your home office or the wine cellar).
59. Receive email or text notification reminders when it’s time to take medication.

60. A keypad on your wall by your entry that starts music streaming or your favourite TV station in the kitchen when you arrive, all with one touch of a button.
61. Create a customized scene when a specific door lock code is pressed. For example, if a family member’s door lock code is pressed, turn on a favourite TV channel and set volume automatically to 50%.
62. Heated towel racks that kick in at a set time for those early morning showers.
63. Floor heating based on outdoor temperature: Put a remote temperature sensor in the attic of the garage. Between 4 am & 9 am, if the garage temp is below 40 degrees, turn on master bath floor switch (heat), set to automatically turn off at 9 am.

64. Program shades and drapes to open and close automatically based on the position of the sun and home occupancy.
65. “Wakeup” scene that opens the drapes, gradually raises lighting over the course of five minutes and sets the temperature to your preferred level.
66. Automatically turn down the heat when you leave for work in the morning.
67. Light the fireplace using your smartphone or tablet, without leaving the couch.
68. An “Exercise” scene that lowers the temperature for a workout, even turning a TV to a favourite station or starting a customized music playlist.

69. Implement an energy management system that continuously monitors the current energy production of your home’s solar panels.
70. Measure your entire home’s energy consumption, circuit by circuit, automatically with your home automation system.
71. Automate your home’s lights so they are never at full brightness.
72. Set sprinklers and lawn systems to respond automatically to weather conditions (so you’re not watering the lawn on rainy days).