Photos By: Stock Images

The popularity of smart technology in homes is understandable. Not only does it make our daily lives easier and daily tasks less arduous, but it can even be used to keep us safe at home, something which is particularly important for vulnerable people living alone like women and the elderly. Smart homes are also believed to be more environmentally friendly making them especially appealing as we navigate the murky waters of the climate crisis. While you can choose from a number of devices such as Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa, if you’ve got a bit of technical know-how you can also build your own home automation systems using Arduino boards. Here we explore some of the systems you could build at home.

Automated Door Lock

If you’ve got a habit of misplacing your keys, an automated door lock could be the answer to your prayers. Building your own smart lock is surprisingly straightforward and can be achieved with a few affordable components, so it won’t cost you a fortune. An Arduino Nano is the ideal piece of tech for this project, as it’s compatible with both Windows and Android devices. Once you’ve constructed your automated lock, your Bluetooth device can be used to open and close the lock.

Email-connected Security Camera

If you’re wanting to make your home safer for you and your family, a security camera is a worthwhile investment. However, with a few simple steps and the right Arduino board, you can go a step further and build a security camera which connects to your email inbox. The benefit of an email connected camera is that it can take a photo of a visitor on your property and send you the photo via email to review.

Automated Roller Blinds

Wouldn’t it be nice to open and close your blinds at the touch of a button? If you build your own automated roller blinds, you can make that dream a reality! An Arduino Pro Mini 3.3V is the base you’ll need to build the automated mechanism with. A soldering iron and a 3D printer will also be required to build your own automated roller blinds, along with various other components.

Alarm System

If you’ve already got some previous experience successfully creating Arduino-based products and you feel up to a new challenge, a home security alarm system could be your next step. Just like a store-bought alarm, this Arduino-based system is capable of detecting motion and will activate a piercing noise to alert you of an intruder. The alarm can be reset or switched off with a password, as with a traditional burglar alarm.