I think background automation is the real objective here, especially for mass market endorsement. My system works pretty well in this regard but can mess up when trying to be too clever.
My control fetish surfaces though and it gives me great satisfaction to have the power at my fingertips. You might like a romantic date but a Dashboard I liken to watching porn. Unfortunate parallels there. Control is really not the same purpose or contentment though. Monitoring is useful like alerts and phone number lookups. GSOH and spontaneous/adventuresome don’t sit well in either of these.
Remote interfaces like button controllers that keep me fed as a couch potatoe I like.
UI’s are incredibly time consuming to fashion and very subjective. Once created I was surprised how little use they had beyond voyerism. So they’re one for a rainy day and I can get by with a basic UI.
For me, the primary objective is automation. I want lights to be on when they should, on their own, off when they should. I want the garage door to open when I come back with the car, but not when I’m back from my walk, etc. I also want my hub to let me know if there are issues that it cannot fix.
Through this, I want to be able to control everything manually, so that family and guests can control what they want if they need it.
It is also very important that I can integrate with my security system, as otherwise I will forget to arm it, or lock my doors, etc.
I like the ability to monitor things, but I mostly use this to debug issues and help me improve my automations.
That’s an interesting comment in the opposite sense too…. Should something that just works fail to do so then likely it will go unnoticed for a while with attendant risks. So do we need an automation to confirm the automation worked, or more usefully to advise it didn’t.
This is my life in a nutshell. I love this stuff, would automate almost everything if I could. Wife is not a fan, wants to control everything manually.
Compromise...some automation, many, many Picos.
Monitoring/catching my mistakes is a favorite of mine. Don't go to bed w/doors or windows unitentionally left open, don't forget the laundry is in the washer needs to be dried/dryer needs to be hung up, don't leave the water running in the back yard, don't forget to turn off the whole house fan, don't run the whole house fan when all the windows are closed (not good)...
^^^^^ This!
One of my favorite authors, and one of his best works. Totally spooked me out when I read it as a kid. People tend to only think of him as a "SciFi" author, but the scope of his work is so much more than that.
I really do feel your pain. I kinda cringe every time she talks to Alexa. I never know what will happen.
I tell her she has COPD. Can't operate devices.
I have a Google Home/Nest mini in the house with the microphone turned off. I have no urge to have it listening to everything I say. That being said, I am an eclectic automation person. There are things that are automated, but some we keep as manual. Things like the bathroom light and fan are ones that my wife and I don't think need automating or monitoring. Other lights are automated for either time of day, motion, or both. Security and safety related things are automated, such as leak, smoke, and CO detection along with a water shut-off valve that will be installed Friday (LeakSmart Zigbee valve) but door locks are not and will not be automated any time soon. If we had others coming in and out while we were away, then I could see it, but not just for the two of us. Plus, what good would having a Zigbee or Z-Wave deadbolt on the door if we have a locking storm door? I don't know of any automated locks for those.
I could see adding automated shades/blinds to a couple of windows in the house, but not all through. They are very expensive. Manually operated window treatments are already quite expensive.
Anyway, that's my opinion. My wife is satisfied with the level of automation we have. That's the most important thing.
We are also just two at home now, and like our automated door locks beause they keep us from accidentally leaving the door unlocked overnight or when we're out and about during the day, via 10m auto lock if door is closed and the lock is unlocked.
We think of it like leak/fire/CO detection...guards us against our "memory leaks." Our locks have a keypad to enter a lock code, but also allow use of normal keys. That flexibility is important - wife and kids use codes, but my Mom (who used to come over to help w/our dogs when we were away) wanted to use a key. I think the auto-lock is probably my wife's favorite automation.
We have the combined light/fan in the bathrooms. Initially, it was just fans with lights above the sinks. I swapped the fans out for light/fan units, but they care still controlled by one switch. Since having the light closer to the shower is desirable, the light/fan gets used. If there were separate switches, I would likely automate the fan part, not because we forget to turn them on or off, but to give a time for excess humidity to be removed without us having to monitor it.
