For this project, I wanted to learn as much as I could about IoT devices and smart homes, and I found that:
- Primary motivations for adopting the “Smart Home” are for safety purposes.
- Amid the global COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing lockdown, our homes have taken on much more responsibility.
- The installed bases of smart home devices in the United States is expected to reach 26.9 million in 2023, from 12.2 million in 2018.
- Data leaks have been observed to have increased with smart home adoption.
Along with these insights, I also noticed that none of the major Smart Home companies provided a sort of "All-in-One" answer for consumers; Amazon hadn't created a doorbell camera, and Ring hadn't made a personal assistant. Of course, this specialization might be more beneficial in the long run, but I kept wondering how the "Novice Consumer" would react to all of these smart products, and if there was an easier solution.
With this in mind, I started building this project around the idea of introducing a consumer to IoT Technology. With all of these products under the same "system", new customers could simply buy a Domu tower and add to it as they like. Modular design also emerged as a defining design during the process, as it would offer users more customization on their end.