How to turn your dream home into a smart home

“Open Sesame” -- are the golden words from the movie Home Alone 4 that first introduced us to the concept of a smart home back in 2002. While there was no Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa at the time and even the first iPhone, which is often attributed to as the world’s first smartphone, was five years away, the movie gave a glimpse of what the future would look like one day.

Today, we have moved lost past the image of the future that the movie painted. Today, we can not only open and shut the doors, open and close the curtains, and turn the music or the lights on or off, but we control almost every aspect of our homes -- security cameras, vacuum cleaners, even wardrobes that can dry clean and sanitise clothes-- using voice commands. And the best part about the present technology is that we don’t even need a special key like the one Kevin McCallister had to control these smart home devices. All we need is a smartphone!

So, if you are planning to upgrade your smart home into a smarter one, here are some devices that can help:

4th Gen Amazon Echo Dot with Clock: It features a spherical design with a fabric finish, which is radically different from the device’s hockey-puck shaped design. It comes with an LED light ring at the base that lights up as you communicate with Alexa. It has a 3.0-inch woofer, dual-firing tweeters and Dolby audio for better sound quality. You can use this for controlling other smart home devices in your house. It costs ₹5,499 in India

Milagrow Seagull robotic vacuum cleaner: The year 2020 made us realise the importance of having a robotic vacuum cleaner in the house, a device that vacuum cleans and mops the floors without you having to lift a finger. There are many robotic vacuum cleaners available in the market right now. The Milagrow Seagull is the cheapest costing just ₹20,000. You can also go for Mi Robot Vacuum Mop-P that costs ₹24,999. Both these devices use an array of sensors to map your house and navigate it without hitting walls, furniture etc as they clean and mop the floor.

ALSO READ: Top vacuum cleaners that you can pick from

Dyson Pure Hot + Cool Cryptomic air purifier: This air purifier-cum-room heater was launched in India in November last year for ₹61,900. It not only purifies the air inside your room but it also comes with the ability to act as a room heater especially during the cold winter months, which makes it ideal to be used all year round.

Samsung AirDresser: This device is designed to help you keep your clothes clean and germ-free especially in the pandemic-stricken world. It cleans, deodorises and sanitises clothes with you having to wash them over and over again. This helps protect your expensive clothes from multiple dry clean or laundry cycles. And it costs ₹1,10,000 in India, but you do get what you pay for.

Belkin Kakao Friends wireless charging mat: This wireless charging mat can be used for charging smartphones, headphones and other Qi-enabled devices. It supports up to 10W charging. It comes with a USB Type-A cable sans the charger and it can be plugged into a charging brick, laptop or a power bank for charging. It costs ₹3,499 in India.