How Smart Homes can help Everyone
When I was researching prior to starting this business, I did my research on my demographic I needed to be aiming for. The consensus on the internet is that a smart home needs to be aimed at Homeowners/Renters between 25 - 60. But surely a smart home should be for everyone - from young to old, from technologically fluent to not.
How can a Smart Home help the Elderly
One of the best devices in my home at the moment, is my FP2 Presence Sensor (See my review here). This is a game changer, not just for convenience, but due to this also offering the fall detection, this could be a life saver. This could really improve on how Carers, Children or even neighbours can help the elderly. With the Aqara FP2 Sensor working on mmWave, this means that there is no breach of privacy, if you were to put this in a bathroom, there is no images recorded etc, but when a sudden drop in the response of the mmWave occurs, it can send a notification to one of the parties mentioned above, to go and help the person. This can mean, in less than a minute, people can be alerted to a fall of a love one.
I know for personal experience growing up, that Gas ovens can cause some issues. My Grandma doesn't have a sense of smell. there was several times where she had to come and sleep at our house, because she had left the gas her hob. With 2 very simple things, this could have been eradicated. With one Shelly Gas (LPG) and a Solenoid controlled by a Smart Relay, we could have created an automation which when the LPG gets to a certain level, it shuts off the solenoid, and either sends a notification to my Grandma, or one of the family. This would've helped give us all the peace of mind needed, and kept my grandma safe in her own home.
How can a Smart Home Help Children
One Simple way, by controlling devices. My Mesh WiFi has the ability for me to apply limits to certain devices, block websites, and even create multiple networks. When I need to implement this, either for my nephew or when I have children, I can create a Child Only Network, which is restricted on the websites they can access, and restricting for how long.
Or Using the FP2 Presence Sensor mentioned above, we could set zones to notify us if the child is going too close to something and play a sound on a speaker telling them to stop. Whether this is the cupboard with the biscuits, or the oven when it is on (using a Power Monitoring device, we can create an automation so it only notifies us when the oven is on, and for an hour after it is turned off). This can help keep the children safe from danger, and hopefully give you time to react.
This is just a few ways that the smart home can help everyone in the family. Not to mention the other benefits of having your house work for you and create convenient automations to save you time and energy.