There's always been a talk about connected coffee machines, washing machines, dryers, ovens and fridges. To remove human hands entirely from the equation and delegate these tasks to a machine is quite impossible as you always require someone to put in the coffee beans, manage the clothes, put in the chicken into the oven before the connect appliances do their job, not to mention the human required to clean up afterwards.
However, connected appliances make life slightly better by taking away the presence of human at the time it should operate, in specific mode or settings. That being said, a connected appliance is only as smart as the presets that are configured in owner's mobile app.
A picture of home owners waking up to the aroma of coffee is always being portrayed. Yes, you may a schedule on the app to wake you up with the coffee aroma everyday but what about the days you are not in town? You may whip out your phone to start the oven on your way home or get notified of your washing machine's cycle. But what if you can have the oven started the moment you head home, or have the lights change colour and your speakers announcing when the washing machine is done?
A real smart home is one that do not require constant changing of settings and fiddling with your phone. You need a hub and voice recognition to achieve that, so here's the real deal.
Homey partners with Home Connect
Homey, the smart home platform developed by the Dutch company Athom, integrates Home Connect from now on. Back in Netherlands, this is announced by Athom and BSH Home Appliances, the companies behind the products. The partnership adds the home appliances of brands such as Bosch and Siemens to the popular Smart Home Platform Homey.
New possibilities
“The integration between our devices offers a lot of interesting new possibilities to users”, states Stefan Witkamp, Commercial Director of Athom. “Through Homey Flows, your dishwasher can automatically turn on as soon as you get to bed, while the rest of your smart appliances are turned off to save energy. Home Connect devices can also be used in harmony with the thousands of other products Homey supports, including TVs, stereo systems, lighting, switches, solar panels and more.” “You can use these combinations for notifications, but also to combine comfort and energy management in the best way possible”, adds Emile Nijssen, Creative Director. “Imagine your washing machine which starts when your solar panels start collecting energy, but ensures to be ready before a set time”. “With Home Connect, we are actively searching for local and international partners in order to add value to the consumer within their household. As Homey already takes a central position within the connected household, they are a very interesting partner for Home Connect”, according to Luuk Brinkman from BSH Netherlands.
Open platform & API
Integrating Home Connect was relatively easy by merits of Homey’s open software platform, which works similar to a smartphone OS. The good and stable API of Home Connect further supported this process. The API allows external parties to work on BSH appliances with Home Connect. These past months, the two companies collaborated to integrate their open systems, and are more than content with the results: “This is a joined step towards a shared vision”.
Bosch Experience Centre Singapore
Automate Asia, Singapore sole distributor for Homey is proud to have deployed Homey in Bosch Experience Centre in Singapore.
The integration of Homey and Connect Home Appliance truly enhances the experience of a smart home in this showroom. Users will be able to fully control the showroom solely by voice via the Amazon Echo.
All appliances in the showroom, including dimmable lights, air-conditioning, blinds, projector and TV are seamlessly integrated via Homey flows.
The Homey app for Home Connect can be found here and it currently supports the Home Connect oven, dryer, dishwasher and coffee machine that is being featured in this showroom.
PS : This showroom is not open to public. Please do not contact Bosch to request for a demonstration.
About Home Connect
Home Connect is the first solution in the world to allow home appliances from different brands to be controlled with a single app, and is a subsidiary of BSH Hausgeräte. With Home Connect, users can easily control appliances through their Smartphone or Tablet. Next to that, external partners like Homey can integrate the Home Connect API, creating even more ease of use and value for users. More information on Home Connect is available at www.home-connect.com.
About Athom
Athom is founded in 2014 by Emile Nijssen and Stefan Witkamp. The Athom team consists of 15 highly skilled engineers and professionals who work on the development and distribution of Homey. Together, we want to make technology simple, usable and fun – for everyone. Homey has been a success on Kickstarter and is now available at multiple retail locations including Amazon and the Dutch Media Market, and via www.athom.com. A curated overview of devices that work with Homey can be found at TalksWithHomey.com/.
Automate Asia Team
Source: Athom Homey