Domotics

The integration of technology and services in the home environment

The word “domotics” is a contraction of the Latin word for a home “domus” and the words informatics, telematics and robotics.

Definition

Our definition of domotics or home automation is: “The integration of technology and services for a better quality of life.”

Home automation is not just the integration of technology and control in the home, but it also covers outside services that are brought into the home. Therefore the vision of Smart Homes on home automation is much broader than just bringing (semi) stand-alone systems into the home.

Levels of home automation

One can distinguish 5 levels of home automation, where, within the vision of Smart Homes, we only speak of real home automation from the third level onwards.

Homes which contain intelligent objects – homes contain single, stand-alone applications and objects which function in an intelligent manner.
Homes which contain intelligent, communicating objects – homes contain appliances and objects which function intelligently in their own right and which also exchange information between one another to increase functionality.
Connected homes – homes have internal and external networks, allowing interactive and remote control of systems, as well as access to services and information, both within and beyond the home.
Learning homes – patterns of activity in the homes are recorded and the accumulated data are used to anticipate users’ needs and to control the technology accordingly.
Attentive homes – the activity and location of people and objects within the homes are constantly registered, and this information is used to control technology in anticipation of the occupants’ needs.