I’m a big fan of SmartThings home automation system, it has amazing potential to be the controling unit in our home. After testing it out for a long period of time, here are some items I think could help develop the offering.

Automated blinds or curtains

There are times when you leave the house early in a rush and forget to open your blinds. Also there are times when you’re lying in bed and you’ve forgotten to shut your curtains. Late at night this could present an opportunity for burglars to have a nose into your home.

One of the dilemmas of going on holiday is that the curtains remain in the same state, this could mean leaving them open all night for a week or more. This could present an opportunity to potential intruders knowing there has been no activity in the home.

By adding the functionality to close/open curtains or blinds this could help prevent the appearance of an unoccupied home. This greatly improves your home security as it put’s off potential burglars.

Smart plug sockets

Smart plugs are great; however they are bulky and stick out from the wall. With several sockets around your home, it could take up a lot of space and also cost a considerable amount of money to upgrade your sockets with individual smart plugs.

There are some smart plug sockets available on the market, but at the moment non-confirmed compatible with SmartThings. Some people have managed to get the LightwaveRF socket working, but it seems there are issues with delays and not being able to power high voltage items.

I’d also like to see sockets with plug and USB capabilities as it would be useful with the wide range of USB devices that need charging.

Automated garden management

Growing your own fruit and veg is a great way to reduce costs and help the environment. One of the issues is perhaps having to water and care for them. It would be great if the watering could be done automatically reducing the need to attend to them. It could work out the required amount of water based on say a temperature sensor. It could also estimate how far along they are (based on past data) and if they require any further actions such as feeding.

Smart fridges

Smart fridges could be a useful addition to any home, food often expires causing waste. A smart fridge could notify us what is expiring and needs eating up. It could also expand on this and suggest some recipes based on the quantities of food left in the fridge. This could help us reduce the amount of food waste we create and reduce food bills.

There is plenty of potential for different items that could be added to SmartThings to help make our lives easier. If you have any ideas yourself, we’d love to hear about them in the comments or replying to this post.