Voice Controlled Lighting: Why it Makes Sense for Your Home

As convenient as it sounds, telling the lights in your home in plain English what you want them to do is not the end-all-be-all way to control them. There are times—many times, actually—when tapping a button on a keypad mounted to the wall or an app on your smartphone is just as easy. There may even be circumstances when you’d find it just as effective to have your home’s security system operate the lights, based on if you’re home or not. At any rate, voice is the newest way to interact with smart home devices, and should be considered as an ancillary mode of control, giving you an good alternative especially when you’re faced with these situations:

It’s Dark and You Can’t Find the Light Switch: Many manufacturers of lighting control system offer keypads with buttons that glow in the dark, but finding the right still requires a good eye in a pitch black room. By issuing a command like “Kitchen lights on” you can easily find your way to refrigerator for a midnight snack.

You’re Entering the House with Arms Loaded: Whether it’s a bag of groceries, a toddler, or a new sofa, when you’re carrying something into the house, the easiest way to turn on a light is by uttering a voice command. You can carry your parcel into the house or tote it from one room to another without missing a beat.

You’re Cooking, Cleaning, Under the Hood, Painting, or Putting a Kid to Bed: This is akin to the above situation, but in this case, you’re hands aren’t just loaded with items, they are completely occupied with a task. We’ve all had to wipe dirt, flour, grease, or some other substance off our hands before tapping a light switch to brighten or dim a light. With a voice assistant from Amazon (Alexa), Google, (Assistant), or Apple (Siri), you can alter the lighting conditions on the fly without ever leaving whatever it is you’re doing.

You’re Throwing an Impromptu Party: Sometimes the best parties happen when they are unplanned. Spontaneity rules, when you can walk into your home and simply bark out a few phrases like, “Alexa, tell the Sonos system to play my rock playlist,” followed by “Alexa, tell Lutron to lower the shades in the living room,” and “Alexa dim the lights in the living room” and have your house ready for an impromptu gathering of friends in an instant.

You Feel Under the Weather: Go ahead. Stay in bed, rest and drink plenty of liquids. When the shades, lights, ceiling fan, and thermostat in your master bedroom can be controlled via voice commands, you can create an atmosphere that will help remedy whatever ails you… without lifting a finger.

Kid- and Guest-proof: You might not want kids or houseguests fiddling with your remote controls or keypads. Who knows what button they might accidentally press? With voice controllable devices, you don’t have to worry about your house going into a technical tailspin. If the voice assistant software doesn’t understand the command (yes, there is a certain way you have to phrase your commands), it won’t carry out the issuer’s edict. You won’t get that from a keypad or remote control. Once a button is pressed, there’s no turning back.

The post Voice Controlled Lighting: Why it Makes Sense for Your Home appeared first on Electronic House.

from
http://ift.tt/2lZPt8N