Exploring a better way to do automation
While gadgets continue to proliferate our everyday lives, the custom home and building automation space still looks roughly the same as it did 10 years ago.
Most products fall into one of two categories:
Consumer devices, such as the Amazon Echo, Google Home, and a variety of Wi-Fi enabled "smart" products such as lightswitches, thermostats, and "do it yourself" security systems.
Professionally-integrated systems such as Crestron, AMX, Control4, and smaller vendors.
The consumer segment has seen tremendous growth in the last three years. Smart assistants have gained considerable traction, and several offer the ability to control various home automation devices. The Echo has been particularly successful in this regard. Many of these devices are still relatively closed systems, however. Each device has its own app and own login. While protocols such as Apple's HomeKit have helped in this regard, the reality is that controlling more than a few types of devices quickly becomes cumbersome.
Professional solutions, meanwhile, suffer from very few of the aforementioned problems. Instead, owners of such systems tend to deal with different problems, such as vendor lock-in and slow product development cycles. And there's the question of why your $10,000+ system cannot do X and work with Y, both of which your neighbor's $100 Amazon Echo can. Professional solutions, when installed correctly and programmed well, can control a variety of devices elegantly in one place. Automation capabilities vary widely between platforms, with none offering quite the equivalent of a proper programming language. Crestron probably comes the closest, albeit at a price premium.
What if your project involves logic that is not achievable in your current programming environment? Or you want to integrate features in some of the newest consumer products on the market? Perhaps its time for a hybrid approach.
Every one of my recent jobs has included a small commodity rack server. This system typically runs Linux, and a suite of custom applications developed both from scratch and based off existing open-source projects. Whenever feasible, I handle integration and cross-system logic within my own software.
The philosophy is simple: Use each technology for what it's good at. For example, AV control systems are great at presenting slick user interfaces on high-quality hardware. But when you need automation, you'll be able to do far more in your own software.
When a new system comes along, integrating it may be as simple as opening a network connection. Open-source libraries are available today for some of the most popular consumer technologies, such as Alexa and HomeKit control, smart thermostats, etc. Many commercial-grade solutions offer documented protocols from which a library can be developed.
In the end, you'll find your home, conference room, or common area will do more and can offer better user friendliness than if you limit your system to one vendor's solutions.