Don't get me wrong, if you are a tech enthusiast like myself, you can create an incredible home automation experience with the likes of Home Assistant, but for the masses this is not intuitive enough. One of the problems is that devices such as smart thermostats, lights, locks, and appliances are convenient on their own, but they also exist in walled gardens with little ability to communicate or sync their actions. Using separate apps to control every device is a hassle, and jumping through various voice commands on devices such as Amazon’s Alexa makes the supposed "automation" feel anything but automatic.

The missing piece? A platform that can unify and integrate every smart home product into one cohesive, intelligent system. This is the linchpin that will finally allow home automation to evolve beyond novelties and gimmicks into a truly revolutionary experience.

Imagine a central brain that connects and controls every device and system in your home – smart thermostat, lighting, entertainment, security, major appliances, energy management (solar, battery storage, etc). Using robust sensors, artificial intelligence, and thoughtful design, this device would intuitively understand your living patterns and preferences. It would then seamlessly coordinate and optimise everything throughout your home for comfort, safety, convenience and energy efficiency.

This would mean no more jumping between six different apps to get your smart home systems working, with the dream of it one day working harmoniously. With an all-in-one platform, you could control your home from one fully integrated device. Simplicity at last! But for me, the holy grail is more than that, a device that would pull together all the capability and functionality of all the existing devices into one, so that you didn’t have to slowly build up your home automation capabilities from different providers.

Imagine waking up in the morning and the system has already adjusted the climate, opened the shades, brewed your coffee, and started playing a morning playlist over your speakers. When you leave for work, it puts the home into an optimised low-power mode. Return home and it activates a "relax" scene that gently illuminates lights, turns on music, preheats the oven for dinner, and even preps the ambience for family movie night.

Beyond just automated conveniences, a true smart home operating system could proactively improve energy efficiency and cost savings. Maybe circulating heated or cooled air more intelligently between rooms, or giving recommendations to not use an inefficient appliance during peak energy hours. Seamless integration with local solar, batteries, and smarter rate plans would reduce reliance on the energy grid.

Most importantly, with one integrated platform rather than a bunch of disparate products, the automated home experience would finally feel seamless, adaptable, and intelligent - not just automated for the sake of novelty.

For years, smart home technology has wowed us with glimpses of its potential. But we've only scratched the surface of what's possible with true cohesion under one intelligent and accessible platform. As an industry, we need to completely reimagine and redesign the unified home of the future. At Tewke this has become our obsession. We’re working tirelessly to develop a smart home platform that will revolutionise what it means to live in an automated, energy-optimised environment. A platform built from the ground up that can reduce users' environmental impact whilst bringing the magic of full home automation to anyone.