Leaving
- When
- The house becomes empty.
- If
- On a weekday, between seven and seven.
- Then
- Lights off, heating down, the alarm set.
- Approved
- Once, with your passkey, because it sets the alarm.
Routines and presence
The house’s habits, kept for you.
Leaving, bedtime, the cheap hours, a visitor at night. Describe it once, approve it once, and the house keeps it.
I.
How a routine is made
When, if, then.
Say it in a sentence, or build it on the laptop. Either way it becomes the same three parts.
-
i.
When
Something happens, a time arrives, or who is home changes: the house empties, someone arrives, the last light goes to bed.
-
ii.
If
Up to eight conditions: a time of day, the day of the week, who is in, something that has or has not happened, a device’s state, the price of electricity.
-
iii.
Then
Up to twelve actions, with pauses of up to an hour between them.
II.
Four examples
Habits worth keeping.
The cheap hours
- When
- A new half-hourly price arrives.
- If
- Electricity is 10p a unit or less.
- Then
- The utility room socket comes on.
- Approved
- Once.
A visitor at night
- When
- A person is seen at the gate.
- If
- Between eleven at night and six.
- Then
- The outside lights on; the gate camera on the television.
- Approved
- Once.
Bedtime
- When
- Half past ten on a weeknight, or a tap on the wall.
- Then
- Doors locked, lights off, the alarm set for the night.
- Approved
- Once, with your passkey. Run from the wall, it asks an adult first.
III.
The rules a routine keeps
Approved once, never beyond what you approved.
-
i.
The riskiest step sets the bar.
A routine is approved at the tier of its riskiest action. One that touches the alarm needs the owner’s passkey to approve.
-
ii.
Change it, and it asks again.
Editing a routine clears its approval. So does raising the tier of any tool it uses.
-
iii.
Rehearse it first.
Ask what it would have done last week. It replays the real events and runs nothing.
-
iv.
It does not chatter.
A pause between runs, a minute by default and up to a day, so a flickering sensor cannot set it off twice.
IV.
Who is home
Presence, weighed rather than guessed.
Wi-Fi, Home Assistant, each phone’s geofence and your own word are weighed every 30 seconds. Each person is home, arriving, leaving, away or asleep.
Away
After ten minutes gone
Arriving
For the first five minutes home
Night
23:30 to 06:30, unless you change it
Your phone
Tells the house home or away, and nothing else
Your word
Overrides it, from five minutes to a day
V.
Errands
For longer jobs, an errand.
Booking the boiler service, chasing a refund, renewing the fleet insurance. A plan of up to twelve steps, approved once and carried to the end. When it needs a decision, the question waits on the wall with its answers beside it.
The estate- Every step runs within the tier you approved.
- If the plan has to change and the new one carries more risk, it comes back to you.
- Answer its questions on the wall, on your phone or by voice.
A steward for the whole estate.
Tell us a little about your house and your business. We will be in touch.