There are hundreds of different types of smart devices available to connect your home and make it ‘smarter’. Most are obvious, natural improvements on devices you use every day, without too much information you can probably guess what you’ll get from a smart light bulb or TV. However, there are some devices that make less immediate sense or offer functionality you might not expect. Let’s look at some of the smart devices that go beyond smart and are just a bit, odd.
Smart Bed
Anyone who has a modern fitness tracker will probably be familiar with sleep tracking – and the sudden feeling of tiredness that comes on when you discover you had much less sleep than you thought. Smart beds do a similar job without the need for a bracelet or watch on your wrist, however, you might be surprised to learn that smart beds are a relatively mature technology. In fact, much of the technology used to monitor your sleep that is found is smart beds has been around for over two decades.
A smart bed can do much more than tell you how you slept. From raising various zones of the bed to adjusting the bed’s firmness to heating your feet, a smart bed is the ultimate in comfort for the place you should be spending a third of your life.
Smart Fork
There is some solid science behind how eating more slowly can improve your health by letting your body ‘catch up’ to how full your stomach is. A smart fork is a simple tool to manage your eating speed by giving you a short vibration when you are shovelling a little too quickly.
Linking it to your smartphone can give you feedback on how your are developing your patient palate. The goal is to help you to drop your fast-eating habits and give your body an easier time digesting your food. As beneficial as that might be, a smart fork is probably not going to be high on your list of smart devices to buy first.
Smart Imaging Toaster
With a smart toaster, you can rid yourself of under or overcooked toast for good. These devices can accurately sense the temperature and crispness of your bread as it toasts, remind you it has popped, and even start the toasting process once the bread is in place.
For a bit more fun, you might remember that, a couple of years ago, the internet was ablaze with talk of a smart ‘imaging’ toaster. These devices turned the toaster into a breakfast table printer, allowing you to toast messages, pictures or the weather for the day onto your bread. While the concept means you can decide on whether you need a brolly while grabbing a quick slice of toast, it did face some ridicule at the time.
Robot Floor Mop
Robot vacuums have been around for more than a decade now, periodically scooting around your floor hunting for dirt. But the technology now exists to clean your tiles, veneers or coated wooden floors too.
A smart robot to clean your floor will scan for spills or footprints for some spot cleaning as well as clean on schedule. You can also start a remote clean through the app, if you’re having guests at the last minute and want to make sure the floor is sparkling.
Dog Training or ‘Barking’ Doormat
There are doormats available that can sense when your dog is giving you the time-honoured toilet signal i.e. standing by the door. After your puppy has been house-trained, it need never be left standing with a full bladder again. The mats can be set to make a sound or have a notification sent to your phone when your furry friend is ready to go outside.
These dog training doormats can also be used to help condition a puppy to go outside instead of on your floor. Using some incentive training and the accompanying app for your mat will take the guesswork out of house-training and keep your floors a little cleaner.
Smart home devices are designed to be clever solutions to make your life better, however, that doesn’t mean that you need to buy every smart device you can find. Some of the devices available won’t suit your needs and others are a bit odd. However, with the right choices your smart home can make your life easier. It’s best start with the products that make the most sense for your home and your lifestyle, no matter how much you want to get your weather report from the toaster.