Google's Android Ambitions Go Beyond Mobile

PolygamousRanchKid writes "Android has become the top smartphone operating system in the United States, but Google's ambitions for it go well beyond tablet computers and smartphones, even beyond the mobile Web. Now Google says Android can also become the first mass-market bridge between the virtual world and the physical world, allowing smartphone apps to control light bulbs and home medical devices. Hoping to spark a wave of creativity similar to what Apple started when it opened the iPhone app store, Google distributed hundreds of circuitry kits to developers at last month's I/O conference. The Android Open Accessory Development Kit (ADK) allows Android's software to operate and communicate with motors, sensors, controllers and relays, allowing developers to create an interface in which a smartphone app could control or collect data from a thermostat, a lawn irrigation system or a group of lighting fixtures. 'The opportunity exists to dramatically change how you control your home,' said Tom Benton of Lighting Science. Over time, 'we're talking about the elimination of the wall switch.'"

Comments

No we are not.

[LWATCDR]

People will still want a way to turn on and off devices that do not require you to find a remote. Maybe the wall switch will be part of the network but they will still be there.
When I go to bed at night I put my cell on the charger. I do not want to have to take my cell or my remote with me to the bathroom to turn on the light. I do not want them to be automatic because I want to go into the bathroom and then turn on the light so I do not wake up my wife.

Re:No we are not.

[MikeDirnt69]

Are your doors Self-Satisfied?

Re:No we are not.

[SnarfQuest]

The evening is getting intimate, and you want to dim the lights

You: One moment honey *tap* *tap* *tap* *click* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap*
Her: What are you doing?
You: Just a minute *tap* *tap* *click* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *click* *tap* *tap* *tap*
Her: Who are you texting?
You: I'm just trying to ... tap* *click* *tap* tap* *click* *tap*
Her: Well, I hope you're happier with her than you are with me. *slam*
You: tap* *tap* *click* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *click* *tap* *tap*
Lights dim.
You: Ok, where were we ....

Usurper

[Microlith]

Is this Google trying to usurp the successes had by the Arduino community and tie access to these peripherals to Android or something?

'The opportunity exists to dramatically change how you control your home,' said Tom Benton of Lighting Science. Over time, 'we're talking about the elimination of the wall switch.'

But I don't want to have to buy an Android device just to turn the lights on in my house :(

misterhouse

[vlm]

allowing developers to create an interface in which a smartphone app could control or collect data from a thermostat, a lawn irrigation system or a group of lighting fixtures.

Welcome to misterhouse from the 90s? Everything old is new again!

http://misterhouse.sourceforge.net/

I have set this up, I can control my lights and stuff from my ipod touch web browser, and it is in fact a completely useless cool hack.

I DO use misterhouse to automate the heck out of timing and some simple virtual timers (outside light shuts off X minutes after I turn it on) and also some virtual relay logic (basement stairs light controlled by position of basement door using the most hardware and software possible instead of a simple relay). Useful as that has been, "control the lights using the ipod" has been quite useless.

Oops, forgot my phone

[MBCook]

"We're talking about the elimination of the wall switch."

So if I forget my phone at work, I can't turn the lights on in my apartment? Brilliant!

The idea of interfaces using the new Android stuff is interesting, but it seems like we'll get into another one of those situations where everyone defines their own standard (which they change when convenient) and nothing works well. The light bulbs in one room are GE bulbs which can't be controlled the by same software as the Sylvania bulbs, but that's OK because the new bulb uses different software than the old ones so I need a patch to the software for that. Look in a book for any home receiver or DVR and look at the HUNDREDS of codes used to control various AV equipment, even from a single manufacturer.

I'll wait for some good standards to be ironed out and become dominant before jumping on this bandwagon. It never really happened in the TV space. Being able to look up a TV show on my iPhone in a guide program and push a button to tune to it would be nice, but that only works right now with some company's cable boxes and their app.

Of course, do I really care if I can individually adjust every light (or anything else) in my house? I doubt I need that kind of control. We're going to go through that phase where people find out what's useful... and I'm not interested in being someone stuck with an something like the Android fridge Samsung has started advertising.

Wall switch removal is not the goal.

[140Mandak262Jamuna]

The goal is to replace the wall switch with a small panel that will contain "sponsored" ads.

Re:Apple Will Be There

[blair1q]

you mean there's a fap for that.

Unwritten Addendum:

[Bieeanda]

"We're also hard at work bugging the Hell out of the ADK, so that your Android device phones us to deliver vitally handy information that we can use to make educated guesses about your lifestyle habits. Thermostats, duration and frequency of lights going on, and all of the other things that worry people about so-called smart utility meters add up to tons of demographic data that nobody will ever dream that they're divulging!"

Re:It's the home of the future!

[Anonymous Coward]

I can do all that already in my NYC apartment!

Although, to be fair, not because it's high tech. It's just that small.

Wrong answer

[Animats]

Home control has been around for a long time without catching on. I live in a house built in 1950, and it has "home control" - two rows of toggle switches in the kitchen and a large number of 3-way and 4-way toggle switches. There was even an override switch in the master bedroom that turned on all the outside lighting. (Those are now on motion detectors.)

In the 1960s, there was a fad for relay-controlled lighting and outlets, controlled through 24VAC relays. That never became popular, especially because the relays tended to burn out.

Then there was X10, the first major power-line based system, in the 1980s. Then Echelon, a better power-line system, in the 1990s. Then we had the "every light bulb gets an IPv6 address" crowd.

What's actually getting installed are non-networked wall switches with PIR motion detectors to turn off the lights when nobody is around. They do the job and take no user attention. Which is the whole point.

This sort of thing makes more sense in industrial, office, and commercial buildings. There, though, the trend is not towards hooking everything to a remote control. It's adding sensors to make it fully automatic. You can get commercial devices that go in a return air duct and sense temperature, humidity, CO2, CO, volatile organic compounds, and smoke. Then the room just does the right thing.

When there's nobody in the room, CO2 is low, and humidity on the supply duct is no higher than intake air. The system can then cut airflow to very low levels, let the temperature drop or rise a bit to save energy, and recycle most of the air. As soon as someone enters the room (there's often a motion sensor for this) the temperature margins tighten up to comfort levels and the airflow goes up a bit. If a lot of people enter the room, the CO2 and humidity levels start to climb, and the HVAC system cranks up fan speeds, cuts in chillers, and opens and closes dampers to compensate. Detection of CO (probably smokers) or VOCs (probably someone painting) means input airflow has to go way up and air has to be exhausted to the outside, not recycled. Smoke detection activates emergency modes and alarms.

Now that's doing it right, not some dork trying to operate the system from a touch screen.