Exploring The Smart Home At A Lower Cost

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One of the hottest subjects around networking and the Internet of Things is the connected home. Schneider Electric is currently developing an ’awareness plug’ for smart home applications, which incorporates motion, sound and lock detention, as well as remote temperature control.

’There are very similar devices to this out there now, but where we take this a step further is through the addition of a suite of sensors,’ said Jeff Young of Schneider Electric.

The awareness plug does just that, plugging directly into a wall. Devices can then be plugged into it. Schneider chose the format in hopes of lowering the cost of the connected home.

’Right now if you wanted to have this kind of functionality in your home, you’d need to buy a whole system. You’d get sensors distributed all through your house, and you’d need a central hub,’ said Young. ’That’s really expensive; it could cost you a couple hundred dollars.’

With their prototype in development, Schneider Electric would like to lower the ’barrier of entry’ to around $50.

PUBLISHED SEPT. 15, 2014