As a very basic definition of home automation you could consider it to be anything that is able to be controlled in your home. If you have a remote or you have automatic control over the function within your home, you have home automation. Today’s standards are high. There are actually a number of different ways that you can install this type of automation into your home, which you will see in later chapters. What’s important to know is that most of the automation that you will do will not require hard work. It won’t require tearing apart your home or spending thousands of dollars on a simple system. Home automation is something that the average person can do. Most of the products that you will find are simple to install and they don’t have to be more than a few hours worth of a project.

Home automation can allow you, and your computer, to make the things that you need and do in your home easier to accomplish. Perhaps you want to control your security system? Or, perhaps you want to voice automate the lights in your home so that you can get into bed and then turn the lights out. Or, perhaps you want to be able to control your sound system from anyplace in your home.