Smart home technology, with intelligent gadgets, that can be controlled from your phone, seems ready to take off. And the good thing is that people see the benefits of having a connected home, and think it can genuinely improve their daily lives, and they will have fewer household chores to do.
Smart Home Device Categories
- Smart Home Hubs and Controllers
- Smart Home Surveillance Cameras
- Smart Locks and Home Security Systems
- Smart Heating and Cooling
- Smart Lighting
- Smart Vacuums
- Smart Health and Fitness Devices
- Smart Kitchen Appliances
- Smart Outdoor Gadgets
Top Robot (Smart) Vacuum Cleaners, Mops & Cleaning Brushes
Top Robot vacuum cleaners, remote radio control (RC) mops & cleaning brushes reviewed here. Ask any homemaker and they will vouch that cleaning the house is not at all an easy task, not only is it time consuming, it gets tiring too.
And why just home, even if you had a photography studio, you will need to get it cleaned after every shoot (and/or even before a new shoot starts).
But then you do have appliances like the vacuum cleaner to make things easier, right? Yes, but even then, its physically draining (or you need to employ someone to do that).
Perhaps, you should get the help of a robot to do all the cleaning. And that’s now possible, thanks to Robot vacuum cleaners.
How do they work?
Robotic vacuums use a variety of sensors to track dirt, pet hair and other debris lying on the floor (Robotic vacuum work well on carpeted areas as well as on hard floors).
They use various rotating brushes that help pick up bits and pieces along edges of baseboards and rugs. The best robot vacuums can also can trap allergens, such as pet dander, pollen and dust mites, and mitigate allergies.
- Charging: Most robot vacuum cleaners can run for at least an hour on a single charge, which is good enough for most cleaning purposes.
- Not exactly noise-less: While the smaller sized robot vacuums are considerably quieter, the more more powerful vacuum cleaners can be fairly noisy.
- Requires Maintenance: You will need to do regular maintenance/cleaning activities like emptying the dustbin and tapping out the filter daily.
Here are some options.
Floor Mopping Robot: A Worthy Helper Indeed
Here’s another cool gadget that’s designed to automate your household cleaning. This floor mopping robot contains sensors that steers it away from stairs, rugs and other raised surfaces, and can easily mop your home for up to 2 hours on a single charge.
A great product to help you with your household chores, and a perfect example of how technology can help in our day-to-day life.
CCP Mini Robotic Floor Cleaning Mop Ball
Here’s another instance where technology is trying to help you make your everyday life easier. Mopping the floor is one activity that happens at least once in every home. Now here’s a cool product that does the mopping for you, on its own.
This robotic floor cleaning mop ball makes your cleaning day a little easier for you. This small roving ball comes lined with a soft polyester mop, that doesn’t scratch the floor, and helps to clean the floor.
It has a built-in timer, so just set it up, and let it run free throughout the home, while you’re busy with your other activities at home.
Remote Radio Control (RC) Mop / Cleaning Brush
This is a great product to help your kids learn the importance of cleaning, right from a young age.
In fact, this remote controlled mop the only gizmo on the market that makes cleaning the house fun, and for which, I guess even the adults will compete with the kids to lay their hands on the gadget.
With this product, household chores just became fun. It turns the monotonous task of cleaning the floors into a thrilling game that no one in the house can resist. Check it out here…
Best Robot Vacuum Cleaners
Here are some of the popular robotic vacuum cleaners. Most of these robotic cleaners also come with a remote control. But its not much of an effort to hit the ON button on these gadgets.
iRobot Roomba 650 Vacuum Cleaning Robot
The Roomba 650 Vacuum Cleaning Robot is a popular product that is easy to operate – all it takes is the push of a button. The cleaner picks up dust, pet hair and large debris like cereal. It’s also effective on all floor types. Its compact design makes it convenient to fit under most furniture, beds and kickboards.
ILIFE A4 Smart Vacuum Cleaner
The ILIFE A4 Smart Vacuum Cleaner is cheaper, works great on hard floors, and is also comparatively quieter. However, it seems to take longer to clean the surface. Overall, the ILIFE A4 is a great budget sweeping robot
Smart Home Technology need to close the doors to Hackers
Security Threats
Where technology is involved, hackers want to be in the middle of the action, and a smart home is no exception. There are many who fear that their smart home data could be hacked by cyber criminals.
For example, your webcam could be hacked and the video feeds could be uploaded online without your knowledge.
Taking Safety Measures
Manufacturers are making sure that security measures are built into smart homes, and there are fallback methods for gadgets to resort to (in case if it fails.) In the connected age, manufacturers have to make sure their products do not compromise the safety of consumers in any way.
Even consumers should familiarize themselves with the potential security risks of the snazzy home gadgets they are looking to purchase. You will need to change the default password, and be aware of any external factors that could impact the device’s security.
The smart home segment looks exciting, with several new innovations waiting to get into your homes. However, to truly enjoy the rewards of a smart home, you need to address the security part and close the doors to potential hackers, if you really want to feel safe within your smart home.
Your iPhone is ready to run your (Apple) Smart Home
Apple iPhone will likely be used for many more things, including the way people run their homes. From turning on lights to securing locks, Apple’s smart home plans include many more smartphone-based initiatives.
Apple’s smart home capabilities will let you control smart home devices using your iPhone’s operating system, done seamlessly and will be invisible to consumers (just how Apple’s AirPlay technology streams audio to a speaker or video to an Apple TV).
Its known as HomeKit, the framework responsible for running Apple’s connected home ecosystem. HomeKit streamline’s communications between Apple’s gear and accessories like web security cameras, smart plugs, thermostats, and more.
So Siri will become your digital butler, when you tell Siri to “turn on the downstairs lights,” no matter the room, or the make and model of smart home lighting solutions, the connected lights in your home’s downstairs will turn on. You can also use Siri to define rooms, zones (collections of rooms), and scenes (group of actions that typically have one trigger).
As per Apple, your iPhone is ready to control your house – it’s just waiting for the products to join in. For proof, just ask Siri to lock your doors; she’ll reply that she doesn’t see anything connected yet. The HomeKit interface is part of the current operating system, so you already have a smart home – no upgrading necessary.
Amazon Key would let couriers open front doors, monitored by cameras
For years, Amazon has been testing the limits of online deliveries — pushing shipments to arrive faster, toying with delivery by drones. Now the company is pushing at a new boundary — the front door.
Amazon Key, a new service, would allow couriers to open the doors of customers who opt in, in order to leave packages inside a house or apartment. Using the service would prevent package theft and obviate the need to stay home or arrange for a spare key for a contractor or visitor.
The service is only available to Amazon Prime members.
It requires a smart lock, which can be unlocked remotely, as well as the Amazon Cloud Cam — a new Amazon security camera, also announced on Wednesday. Amazon Key promises to turn on the camera (pointed at your door) every time the door is unlocked and show you a video of the full delivery.
“Each time a delivery driver requests access to a customer’s home, Amazon verifies that the correct driver is at the right address, at the intended time, through an encrypted authentication process. Once this process is successfully completed, Amazon Cloud Cam starts recording and the door is then unlocked. No access codes or keys are ever provided to delivery drivers,” Amazon says in a statement.
Amazon Key: new delivery service lets couriers unlock your front door
The service will also allow you to unlock the door for friends or family. Eventually, Amazon says, it will have options for service providers (like cleaning services or dog sitters) to enter as well.
The kit to start using the service includes a Cloud Cam and smart lock, and requires Amazon Prime membership. It’s only available in certain cities (where Amazon handles deliveries directly).
Amazon Key addresses issues of security and convenience, while raising its own questions about security and privacy.
The service requires customers to be comfortable with a smart lock controlled by Amazon and with an Amazon-connected camera monitoring the inside of their home and communicating to the cloud. Even if users are willing to trust Amazon with that level of access to their homes, they might have other concerns; Internet-connected smart devices can be vulnerable to hacking.
Meanwhile, the unlocking of the front door might not be the key component of this new service.
The Verge points out that Amazon is on a “quest to manage your home life and integrate itself into your daily routine.” The Amazon Cloud Cam is a direct challenge to smart-home cameras offered by Google’s Nest, as well as Logitech and a host of other companies.
Offering a novel delivery service exclusively for customers who buy the camera might give Amazon an edge over the competition and put the camera in more homes.
Adding a camera that monitors front doors and is integrated with Alexa and the front lock “would be positioning Amazon to know a lot more about [people’s] lives and habits, like when they leave the house in the morning, how often they go on vacation, and when they get back from work at night,” the Verge writes.
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