I thought I should have a place to document my thoughts on home automation and automation in general.

So much of the modern home automation industry is geared towards products and services that really aren't automated at all. Sure, they may connect to your wifi, or use a fancy protocol like matter, zwave, or zigbee. They probably have an 'app' that goes onto your mobile device. It might send you email or pop up notifications for you, but all of these features really just make up a fancy version of this:

Wikipedia's article on Automation begins, "Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, mainly by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machines." - (..)reduces human intervention in process(..) -

Let's say I go out and buy a dumb incandescent light bulb. I screw it into the socket. The switch turns the light on and off.

Now I go out and buy a "smart" bulb. I screw it in, install the app on my phone, give them my email address, consent to their EULA, make an account, set up my preferences. Now the switch powers the light on and off (which may or may not illuminate the room, depending on manufacturer), but this isn't really any more 'automated', is it? I can now use my phone to turn the light on and off, but where is the reduction in human intervention? Seems to me like we just made a bunch of work for ourselves in order to have the same amount of control as before, but in a different place.

This doesn't even touch on the privacy and personal information aspect of using these devices. Seriously, read the EULA on some of these. Many of them that use your wifi will happily scan your network for a list of every other device you own, and send that information back to HQ, where it can be collected, indexed, bundled, and sold. Sold to marketers so that they can target you with advertising.

Is all of that worth having to use your phone to control a light?

The philosophy I use when choosing how to automate follows a few tenets:

1. The system should respond to me, not the other way around. If I have to take an action, it isn't automated.
2. Control must be local. If my Internet connection goes down, my house continues to function the way it does normally.
3. I must own every device in the system.
4. If something needs to be manually controlled, it should be doable from anywhere in just a few taps, clicks, or words.
5. Always have a backup.

Let's go over each of those thoughts and I will explain what I mean, and the reasoning.

The System should respond to me.

When you walk into a room, you probably absentmindedly reach for the light switch. It happens so automatically, you don't even think about it. You probably don't even recall doing it.

A lot of people don't think about it this way, but that is a really high bar to pass.

If you are going to spend the time to "automate", shouldn't the end result take less effort, less thought? This essentially means that an "automated home" should be one that takes less thought than what you spend on a light swtich. Anything that requires me to take my phone out of my pocket and unlock it is right out.

I shouldn't have to think about turning the light on because it should already be on. The system should anticipate my needs, and present the solution right when I want it. Ideally.

(Obviously there are always edge cases and unexpected things come up, but this is an article about automation philosophy. I don't want to get too into the weeds).

Control Must be Local

I am not going to spend more than a paragraph explaining why a server in Delaware or California (or China) needs to be involved in the lights in my house turning on. It introduces latency, extra points of failure, and uneccesary privacy exposures. Further, if your Internet goes down (it happens), you are screwed. Control must be local.

I must own the hardware.

You probably think you own your possessions. This is a reasonable thing to think. However, if I sell you something (for the sake of example, let's say a Garage Door Opener) with a set of features, and then years later I modify that device and remove a feature from it (without your permission or consent), and there isn't any direct way to stop me from doing so short of removing the device from service, do you really own it?
This isn't a hypothetical, it has really happened - several times before - and it continues to happen. If I can't control how a device behaves, what it connects to, and how its features work, I don't own it. If someone else or some company has more control over a device than I do, I don't own it. If someone else can remove my control from a device, I don't own it.

When I buy a device, I expect it to continue filling the function I purchased it for until it fails.

If I don't own it, it doesn't belong in my house.

When needed, manual control should be simple.

Sometimes your day doesn't go how you expect it to. Maybe you have a contractor doing work in your home. Maybe some company is staying longer than planned. Maybe you just don't feel like the normal routine today.

For any reason, a system should be able to handle these edge-cases where reliable automation becomes difficult. If there are animals having an argument about who is the fittest in my back yard, I should be able to turn on a light and watch without a lot of dicking around.

With very few exceptions, every device that receives power in my home can be controlled or monitored in fewer than 5 clicks/taps when needed. Obviously 4 taps is a lot to turn a light on. Remember we are competing with the light switch. This isn't automation, this is remote control. The part that is being automated here isn't my actuation of the switch, it is the getting off my ass and walking to the next room.

Most things are automated and happen automatically, but when I need manual control for whatever reason, it should be simple and quick.

Always have a backup.

This is a mantra that extends to all aspects of how I make decisions. You can see echos of it in basically all four of the above categories. Still, it is important enough to deserve its own.

If the Internet goes down, or the automation controller melts down, or the house half burns down, the (remaining) system should still function as expected.

This means local control, manual overrides, sane defaults, and safe failure conditions.

My lights are all automated, but they can still be turned on and off with the switches (as well as the wall tablets, my phone, any computer with network acces, or voice commands). Amy's vegetable garden is automated, but the logic is in the microcontroller, not Home Assistant. If the network is down, or Home Assistant is broken, or a piano landed on the cable modem, the pumps and valves will still function the way they are supposed to. The plants will be watered on schedule, and the "sun" will set at the proper time.

All of the above means that more careful thought and planning needs to go into my automations. The end result, however, is a home that is fully automated. One that is insulated from the whims of corporate greed. One that can survive Internet and power failures gracefully. One that will not betray me to advertisers. One that is easy to live in, where I don't have to think too hard about how to get anything done.

A home that is mine.