Turn Your House Into a “Jetsons” Home

Home automation used to be reserved for the very wealthy who could afford to pay a company to come in and install sensors throughout their home - but new technology can let anyone control and monitor their homes right from their phone.

Sensors produced by SmartThings, a Washington, D.C.-based company, are able to sense when you wake up, when you leave and when you come home, and can adjust your living space accordingly. The system also knows when you’ve left your home and it can shut off your lights, make sure your doors are locked and adjust the temperature. When you wake up in the morning, it can turn on lights and turn on your coffee maker so you can wake up to a fresh pot of coffee.

But as nice as it is to not have to worry about turning lights on and off, the SmartThings app on your phone alerts you to anything that’s going on in your home when you’re away, from an open door or refrigerator, to a flood in the basement.

In fact, that’s where the idea for SmartThings came from. One winter, founder and CEO Alex Hawkinson arrived at his family’s ski house to find that the home's water pipes burst, flooding the home and then freezing over. It ruined his trip and caused serious damage to the home.

In a case of turning a bad situation into a new company, SmartThings was born. To see a demonstration of the SmartThings system, watch the video posted above this article.