Domotics is the application of computer and robot technologies to domestic appliances. It is a portmanteau word formed from domus (Latin, meaning house) and robotics.
Remote Control
Most modern houses have appliances that allow some degree of remote control. Domotics aims to integrate and extend this throughout the house. A house with a domotics system installed might have many computers, perhaps built into the walls, to allow the homeowner to control applications in any part of their house from any other.
Automatic Activities
A house with domotics is expected to be able to call the police or the firemen by itself, with more subtleness and a wider variety of allowances than normal alarm systems. On a daily basis, domotic systems are often supposed to be able to automatically gather data from several sensors and do such things as adjust lights and music to the personal preferences of each member of the household, as they come into or leave a particular room. The simplest systems require that each person wear a marker, such as an RFID tag, while the more sophisticated ones detect movement, body heat, and other individual characteristics.
Some Tasks That Domotics Fulfills:
• Work with your utility company to take advantage of off peak electricity rates and provide choices for comfort, safety, and energy management.
• Control curtains, window blinds, and sun shades from one location, all day, without human interaction.
• Opening or locking and unlocking gates and garage doors, under either separate or global control.
• Controlling indoor climate. Press one button to set the heating to night mode; the lights go out, the gates close....
• Control your hi-fi and home cinema from any room, using buttons, panels, or remote control.
• Ensuring that the right light is on in the right place; domotics can also ensure that the right lighting intensity and mood are achieved.
• Providing intelligent garden sprinklers and other plumbing; the lawn is watered only when it is needed, and you can enjoy a quiet stroll through your garden without risking a drenching.
Domobot
A domobot or domicrobot is a domotic microbot. Domotic means connected to a home automation network, and microbot means a mobile robot with a microcontroller - typically a PIC.
Domobots can be connected to a domotic controller (a computer or similar device) through a cable (USB port) or wirelessly (usually through a WiFi port). They are mostly used for domestic work, such as vacuum-cleaning or ironing, and transporting objects around the house to wash or iron them, etc.
A domobot is not the same as a home robot. For example, Roomba or Maxx are home robots but not domobots, because they do not have a port (e.g. WiFi or USB) to connect it to a domotic network.
Standards
• X10
• C-Bus
• CEBus
• INSTEON
• EIB
• ZigBee
• DECT
• Tebis
• KONNEX/KNX
Information appliance
An information appliance (IA) is any device that can process information, signals, graphics, animation, video and audio; and can exchange such information with another IA device. Typical devices could be smartphones, smartcard, PDAs, and so on. Digital cameras, ordinary cellular phones, set-top boxes, and LCD TVs are not information appliances unless they become capable of communications and information functions. Information appliances may overlap in definition or are sometimes referred to as smart devices, mobile devices, wireless devices, internet appliances, web appliances, handhelds, handheld devices or smart handheld devices.
