Automation in Home Appliances

Abstract

Automation in home has been around for many decades with a variety of major appliances introduced to the market. Major household chores have been assisted by labor-saving appliances for refrigeration, cleaning, and cooking. The level of automation in these appliances has been substantially increased since the last century thanks to the advances in microprocessor and sensor technologies; however, we have been looking at the remarkable evolution in home automation in recent years, particularly with the introduction of smart devices and Internet of Things (IoT). This chapter provides an overview of home automation with applications to a variety of household processes and discussion on the technological enablers. Not only major home appliances, but also there are many other smart devices that can interact with home appliances and increase the level of automation significantly in the era of IoT. Therefore, we extend our discussion from automation in home appliances to various smart home devices, including home security, media products, and domestic robots, as well as the fundamental enabling technologies such as smart home hubs and IoT to create a smart home automation network with interconnected devices. Finally, this chapter concludes with the trends and challenges in advancing home automation.