Back in 2012, the Pew Research Center conducted a study on the experts’ forecast of smart systems in mainstream homes. They found that, by 2020, many homes will be equipped with smart home technologies. But we’re still a long way from our vision of the “Homes of the Future,” a vision that’s often influenced by popular science fiction novels, movies, and TV shows. The study found that about 46 percent agreed with this statement.
Now that we’ve put 2020 behind us, we can’t help but agree as well. Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa are currently set up in millions of homes around the world right now. Yes, we’re still not living in homes that we often see in the episodes of Black Mirror. But we can’t deny that we’re on our way there.
But why not take a step further and integrate smart home technologies in our outdoor living, too? We’re building towards a futuristic home anyway. So there’s no reason for our outdoor living to fall short on the advancement of tech. Here’s how we can upgrade our outdoor living with smart home technology.
Security
Of course, if we are to invest in smart home tech for the outdoors, we should always start with security. This way, we’re also ensuring the safety of our other smart home tech that we will integrate into our front and backyards. Our precious cars, for example, need all of the security measures they could take. If you have a garage, install a sophisticated monitoring system. Equipped with sensors, cameras, and whatnot, you’ll have the ability to monitor your car even if you’re on the other side of the world. So long as you have the monitoring system synced to your smartphone, you’ll get alerts in case there are any suspicious movements such as your garage door opening.
If you have a carport, you, too, can integrate smart home tech to look after your car. You can install motion sensors. This way, you’ll be alerted right away if someone moves your car without your permission.
Gardening
We all know and understand that gardening is a very hands-on activity. In fact, that’s what we love most about it. We love getting our hands dirty with the soil and the greens. And we love the feelings of success and satisfaction when our garden blooms in the most stunning way during spring and summer. But, like many other human activities, we, too, could upgrade our gardening with smart home tech.
You could install smart sprinklers that would go off right on schedule. This is especially beneficial to adults who barely have time for work and child-rearing. Through automated sprinklers, their garden will always be looked after even if we’re crazy busy.
Another issue that plant enthusiasts face is making sure that they’re using the right soil. This is important, especially if you’re planting fruits and vegetables. You need to take into consideration the levels of moisture and fertilization. Temperature is also very crucial. But with smart soil sensors installed in your garden, this tech will monitor your soil needs for you.
Entertaining Guests
When we have our relatives and friends over at our house, the living room is sometimes too small for the crowd. We want to make sure that everyone’s comfortable as they enjoyed the festivities. This is why we sometimes like to hold our parties in our backyards. We set up a couple of tables and chairs. There is a bar and buffet table somewhere. Sometimes, depending on the event, we might even set up a makeshift dancefloor.
But, with smart home tech, we could upscale our outdoor events. For example, we could hold movie nights using smart outdoor projectors. The best part is that many projectors readily available can be hooked up to our streaming services. So we could browse through Netflix or Amazon Prime Video on the big screen in our backyard.
Another common theme in backyard parties is, of course, grilling. We can’t imagine celebrating the Fourth of July without grilling a couple of burgers and hotdogs. But, whether we liked to admit it or not, grilling can be such a pain. We have to look after it all the time. Otherwise, the food will burn. But, with smart grills, technology can look after our food for us. It will alert us when the burger needs to be flipped or when the hotdog is cooked through. It can also control the airflow and temperature.
With such smart home technology, our outdoor living won’t be as boring or troublesome again. After all, the smart home tech is there to look after our property, garden, and even the food that we’re grilling. All we have to do is sit back and enjoy.