Motivation
Sometimes, people can't control systems and appliances in their homes.
- people forget and leave the stove on
- the disabled/elderly might not be able to reach light switches
- children get too scared to turn on the light to check for monsters under the bed
Home automation is a relatively mature field, yet most systems are still controlled manually. We hope to simplify the coordination of the most often-used systems inside a home.
Purpose
Maestro conducts daily activities around your home according to your movements. This system will automatically maintain your environmental settings and preferences as you move through your home. It tracks your location within the house to decide what systems to modify. We hope to control systems such as:
- home lighting systems
- multimedia and home entertainment systems
- climate control
The installation process for Maestro is minimally invasive. We do not require you to install any special wiring or buy large, expensive server devices. Instead, a small control unit is placed near the doorway of each room you want to monitor. Small X10 devices will be installed in any lamps you want to control, while multimedia devices will be controlled like a remote control.
Competition
Home Control Systems
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- Centralized lighting control systems
- Residential as well as commercial projects
- Relies on manual control to set lighting schemes, etc.
- X10 Standard
- Focuses on remote control of devices and applianes
- Earliest domotic technology, now widespread
- X10 signals traveling over power lines are tricky to isolate and secure
(neighbors could control your devices if proper isolation circuits are not set up)
Tracking People
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- Tracks people within a building via Bluetooth
- Focused on targeted marketing (ads to your mobile)
- Requires installation of BlipNodes throughout the deployment zone
Other
- Home Intercom Systems
- If you need to turn the lights upstairs off, ask someone there to do it
- Very effective if you have a butler