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Over the last three years we have been quietly developing a new generation of automated dimmer switches and have finally achieved physically and functionally complete prototypes. We are very excited to be making final preparations to initiate the UL and FCC approval processes. In addition to an open and simple wireless communication protocol these dimmers have the . . . → Read More: Think Automatic Dimmer Switches: Coming Soon! The Northwest Entrepreneur Network has invited Think Automatic to present at their First Look Forum – it’s exciting to start to present our ideas and technology especially in this lively forum of investors and investment coaches. Our focus has been on getting our hardware ready for a first manufacturing run and as we are nearing that milestone . . . → Read More: Northwest Entrepreneur Network First Look Forum There has been a lot of talk of smart grids in recent years as the need to address our energy issues continues to grow and evolve. Despite the various facets of what constitutes a smart grid its goal is quite simple. A smart grid is meant to manage energy production, distribution, and consumption intelligently in order to promote efficiency. Despite this simple goal, the pursuit of efficiency is multidimensional and not always obvious. According to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, efficiency can be defined as “the ratio of the useful energy delivered by a dynamic system to the energy supplied to it”. In other words, energy delivered in excess of what is useful creates inefficiency. Thinking about how a hydroelectric plant works can help illustrate this point. Consider a dam on a river generating electricity. The amount of energy that can be generated by the dam depends on the flow of water down the river. If the demand for energy from the dam is consistently less than the dam’s capacity to generate electricity the river will still flow and any water not used for energy production will contribute to the dam’s inefficiency. If the demand for energy from the dam occasionally exceeds its peak capacity, even if most of the time the demand is less than the dam’s capacity, another power source or plant will be needed in order to meet demand. What this means is that the necessary capacity of a power grid is determined by its ability to meet peak demand rather than overall demand over time. The Think Automatic approach is designed to simplify, optimize, and economize your home environment. Your home responds, adapts, and attends to you more and less of you attending to it. Efficiency, security, and usability are all addressed as facets of one system. High level control and monitoring of appliances and devices is centralized where possible and practical to provide a cohesive user experience. Machine learning and data mining techniques are utilized to simplify configuration, identify opportunities to increase energy efficiency, and infer user preferences through activity recognition. Continue reading The Think Automatic Approach For the inaugural post on our new blog I was inspired by a Slashdot thread on the state of Home Automation which is summarized by the this statement. “But in all cases, the state of the art seems to have moved little in the last decade.” This is obvious to anyone who has struggled to get an easy and affordable system to do even the most routine tasks and indeed these systems do little to make life less complicated. Those who tried to implement these systems finally succumbed to the reality that the available 1990′s technology does little to solve even the most basic needs. A significant amount of time is spent on attending these technologies thus reducing the actual time saved. A mastery of electronics and programming and an in-depth knowledge of a host of proprietary hardware designs and communication protocols is required to get these systems to automate tasks that would seem to be easily automated. If I am confusing you then you understand – now think of the easy implementation of a light switch. Think Automatic. Continue reading A Fresh Start to Home Automation |
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