| | MAY 20218CIOReviewIN MY OPINIONFROM AUTOMATION TO EMOTION, THE DEMANDED EVOLUTION OF IOT AT HOMEBy Juan Rico, Head of Business Development IoT, Teka GroupThe eternal promise of a smart home is becoming a reality day by day, and this evolution removed many technological and social barriers. However, the plethora of different technologies, providers, standards limited the massive adoption of the existing solutions, since customers' concerns on selecting the "right one" were always on the table. On the other hand, despite the heterogeneity, there are lots of solutions already available reflecting market acceptances of home technologies, and cooperation helps to boost it.IoT at home is not an isolated solution but a bunch of elements collaborating and adding value to draw a virtuous circle. The centre of the circle is the people at different levels, but with a business perspective creating revenue streams to make the concept sustainable.To illustrate this reality, we just need to step into our homes, and we have the video doorbell connected to our smartphone app via WiFi, enabling us to handle online orders delivery. We have our home thermostat acting automatically based on our comfort preferences; our wireless speaker playing music only in the room we are at home. And, we can continue with light bulbs and TV that both together collaborate to create a charming atmosphere to enjoy our favourite movie. However, technology and available solutions are not so widely adopted when we enter the kitchen.If technology is already mainstream and does not represent an entry barrier for IoT explosion, why smart kitchen adoption is so weak?Automation of home needs is already covered, and solutions are mature and available (lighting, air conditioning, heating). However, with the same degree of technological maturity and with even more years in the IoT developers-mind kitchen connected appliances has not yet ramped up. Kitchen key issue is not the optimisation, is more about health, economy, sustainability, and the cornerstone; the social activities developed around food preparation and enjoyment. Therefore, moving in the same plane as industrial use cases will lead to a very weak adoption and the efforts have to be oriented towards improving enjoyment and creating emotions on top of technology.In the end, the kitchen is considered the heart of the home, so the challenges are more related to "heart" rather than any other feeling. Automation is not a driver to include connectivity in the kitchen since most of the activities must be done manually,
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