The smart home tech that looks after your home while you're not there

Today’s smart home gadgets let families stay in control of their homes via their smartphones from anywhere in the world, helping with everything from feeding the dog keeping burglars away.

‘Smart’ security cameras were the first successes in ‘smart home’ technology, according to Gartner research, allowing families to look at live video streams of their home via smartphones from anywhere in the world.

Since then, the technology has evolved rapidly, with dozens of new gadgets which ‘look after’ the home while owners are away, from robotic vacuum cleaners that spruce up the home, to watering systems which can keep a garden green.

Smart locks

Smart locks are the new way to enter your home and eliminate the need for a key or key fob entirely. Most allow you to open the door with a code or straight from your smartphone. This means that you can open and close the lock to allow visitors in without having to be there yourself.

Smart door bells

Using an in-built video camera that you can monitor via a smartphone app, these door bells allow owners to see who is at their door remotely. Whether you are in the front room or away on holiday, you’ll be able to see the comings and goings of your front door so you can keep an eye on anything suspicious.

Smart cameras

Smart cameras are pretty essential to smart home security. Gone are the days when big money was splashed on professional security camera installation. Now all you need is an app and a smart home security camera sitting on your shelf in order to surveil your sanctuary from anywhere in the world. The latest models can even recognize who is in view and detect what’s a human and what’s a pet for example. This means the system only alerts you when there is something (or someone) there that it doesn’t recognize.

Smart smoke detectors

The Nest Protect is super smart. Not only can it detect smoke and carbon monoxide, it can also tell you where the danger is coming from. This means you can work out whether it’s likely to be a loved one burning toast in the kitchen or if there is a more dangerous fire in the living room – all from your smart phone.

Smart vacuums

Neato’s Botvac D3 Connected (£449) vacuum cleaners can be set in motion from anywhere via an app, allowing families to return to a sparkling clean home. The vacuum navigates the home under its own steam, using LIDAR (laser radar, as used in Google’s self-driving cars). It can be put to work via the app from anywhere, or set to clean the home on a timer. Once finished, it returns to a base station to recharge itself.

Smart gardening

For anyone with a garden full of plants, Hozelock’s robotic garden-watering Cloud Control system (£135) lets you look after the garden (without paying a human being to do it). The Cloud Controller lets you water your garden in response to a command via the app (or on a schedule). A gadget sits on top of your garden tap and activates it in response to commands from the Hozelock app.

The Cloud Controller works with devices ranging from sprinklers to irrigation systems, and offers options from between one and 60 minutes of watering, all controlled via Wi-Fi, so you stay in command even if you’re sunning yourself abroad.

Alternatively, a self-watering planter usually has a water reservoir that supplies your plant with the correct amount of water. They often last a few weeks and most come with an integrated water level indicator will tell you when it’s time to refill the reservoir.

Smart pet feeders

Families with pets can also keep an eye on their four-legged friends from outside the home and even dish up food using gadgets such as Electriq’s Pet Feeder (£70). The device can serve up to four meals per day at chosen times and also has a speaker allowing users to talk to pets and tell them it’s time for dinner. An HD camera lets owners keep an eye on their pets too.

Robot butlers

Return to your sparkling home with the help of this awesome little robot butler! Unveiled at CES 2018l, Aoelus is a wheeled household robot that can recognise most household items and can pick them up and place them back where they belong. Perfect for when you just don’t have time to tidy up as you rush to the airport and keeping your home in shape while you’re away. If that’s not enough, you can get extra accessories and attachments such as brooms or vacuum cleaners so it can get on with the housework too.

Smart outdoor lights

Anyone with a little (or a lot) of outside space will love these easy to install, modular lights that feature motion-sensors, app control and wireless communication so you can turn them on and off with a touch of a smartphone. They can be scheduled to so you can make life easy for visitors or put off potential intruders ‘Home Alone’ style.

Smart window cleaners

Not content with smart vacuum cleaners and robot butlers? Well, smart window cleaners will make sure you return to the view you remember by polishing up your windows while you’re away. The new Winbot X has a rechargeable battery (pretty new to this market) rather than needing a power cable which means it can run through an entire cycle without you having to do anything.