Ikea – smart(er) homes

Ikea is thinking about how the ‘away’ mode for a lot of smart devices can appear more realistic, as to avoid burglaries.

Currently, most smart devices will follow a strict timer – lights will turn on at 6pm until midnight to make it look like someone is at home.

Ikea want to introduce an element of randomness in the timing and other elements, to convince a potential burglar that there is someone really at home. For example, introducing a random offset on the timing for turning on the lights, and also randomly switching the colour of the lighting.