Having a smart home system in Singapore is becoming increasingly popular. With a simple voice command, we can now operate smart devices in our home with ease thanks to Google, Alexa, and Siri. However, many find it difficult to come up with good names for their smart devices. In this
blog post, we will provide some tips on how you can name your smart devices for better voice control.
- Name Groups After Rooms or Purpose
E.g. security, lighting, heating.
For example, you might name your groups after the rooms they're in. Living Room is a good name for a group of gadgets in your living room, as is Study for one in your study. In general, this method works quite well; however, there are some exceptions.
If you have several devices in oneroom that perform different functions, you might want to give them more specific names.
For Home-A-Genius, we are able to zone the rooms according to its function. This way, users can segment the room accordingly.
- Be More Specific
When choosing a name for your device,make sure that it is something simple and easy to remember, but also unique enough that it won't be confused with other devices. For example, you might want to name your light "Living Room Light" instead of just "Light". This way, you can easily tell Google or Siri which light you want to turn on or off.
Google has the ability to do room awareness, which allows you to tag a Google device to a certain room. This way, you can simply let Google know to “turn on lights” and Google will know which
lights you want to turn off.
- Use Descriptive Names
This is similar to the previous tip. A good name for a device should be descriptive enough that you can easily tell what it is without having to look at it.
For example, if you have a lamp inyour living room, you might want to name it Living Room Lamp. If you have a second lamp in the same room, you might want to name it Desk Lamp or Floor
Lamp.
You should also name your scenes according to your intent. i.e. lights at 100% is meant for cleaning mode. Your scene should be “Turn on Cleaning Mode” instead of the need to adjust brightness via the LCD switch. Should you feel the need to manually adjust the brightness too often, you might not be using your smart home to its fullest.
- Use Different Names
E.g. lamp, light
If you have multiple devices that performthe same or similar functions, be careful when naming them. For example, you might have a lamp and a light in your living room. Calling them both "light" would probably lead to confusion. In this case, you might want to give them more specific names.
- Be Careful of Similarities
"Similar names can cause command confusion"
If you are not careful in yournaming, it might cause some confusion as well - see example below:
Naming convention 1:
Group name: Study Room
Device name: Study Room Light
Problem: “Turn on the Study room light” is what you tell your smart home. However, because your group and device names are identical, it may switch on all of the devices in the group named ‘Study room' that are labeled as "Lights," rather than just the device named "Lounge Room Light."
Naming convention 2 (a better alternative):
Group name: Study
Device name: Study Room Light
Solution: You instruct yoursmart home to "turn on the study Room Light." However, because the names of your group (study) and device name (study Room Light), they are not identical, the device name "study room light" will just be turned on.
The reason we choose to name thegroup ‘Lounge’ and not ‘Lounge Room’ is because we tend to control the main light with our voice more frequently than the entire room. And “Turn on the Lounge Room Light” rolls off the tongue nicer than ‘Lounge light’.
On the rare occasion you may actually want to turn on all the lights in the room, you would simply say “Turn on Lounge Lights”.
Make Sure Your Naming Conventions Are Meaningful
When you start adding a lot of devices and groups to your home, it becomes more important to have consistent and meaningful naming conventions. This will help you keep track of what’s what, and make it easier to find devices when you need them.
In conclusion, when setting up your home automation system, be sure to give some thought to how you would name your devices and groups. Taking time to plan will save you a lot of headaches down the road!
