Who are Smart Home Users and What do they Want? – Insights from an International Survey

Abstract

Any set of devices for controlling home appliances that link to a common network and may be controlled independently or remotely are typically referred to as smart home technology. Smart homes and home automation are not completely unknown to people anymore; smart devices and sensors are part of daily life in the 21st century. Among other benefits of home automation devices, it is possible to manage home appliances and monitor resource usage, and security. It is essential to find practical information about smart home users, and possible use cases. The current survey covers smart home usage benefits and challenges for the users. The study presents the result of the collected information from different countries, and the participants are people from a variety of age groups and occupations. The questionnaire that contains both qualitative and quantitative questions was distributed through internet channels such as blog posts and social network groups. Furthermore, to generate the survey questions we conducted a literature review to gain a better understating of the subject and the related work. The research provides a better foundation for future smart home development. As a result of this survey-based study and in addition to finding the desirable home automation features, we discovered the amount of money users are ready to spend to automate their homes. Connecting the favourite smart home features to its users and the amount of money they are ready to spend on them can provide a bigger picture for the smart home industry as a whole and particularly be beneficial for developers and start-ups.