We continue the series “VIKI in real life” and this time we present a garden in Cluj-Napoca, located on the terrace of an apartment, managed entirely by the automatic irrigation system implemented in VIKI.
We wrote a lot about what VIKI can do, about the ways it can make our lives easier, about how it protects our house, about how it ensures the desired comfort and much more. But it is important to actually see what a house equipped with the VIKI automation system looks like in everyday life, so we take another look at our customers’ homes. Continue reading “VIKI and the urban garden. How to manage a green balcony in the city” »
Mornings can be difficult for everyone, for morning persons and the grumpy ones equally. And when we talk about families who also have children to prepare for school or kindergarten, things get even more complicated.
What if you would have someone to help on these chaotic mornings? To have someone to gently wake the little ones up, so they can get out of bed happily and prepare for a new day. To have someone to prepare your coffee and turn on your favourite music. Or turn on your TV on your favourite news channel while you get ready for work.
Everything would be easier with such help. But the days when families had servants in the house are over, aren’t they? Of course, times have changed, and so have the routine of families and their dynamics. The good news is that we can now rely on the virtual butler to make our lives easier – in the morning and at any other time of the day. Continue reading “Scenarios ready to make your life easier in the VIKI house” »
For each of us, “home” means safety, comfort, peace, warmth, the perfect ambiance for us and our loved ones, the place where we relax and where we feel protected. And VIKI intelligence can help ensure and maintain the feeling of “home”, knowing exactly what the needs of the home and family members are.
One of VIKI’s most useful facilities is smart shading. And it’s not just about closing the exterior blinds / shutters when it’s hot, as it may sound. Smart shading can also provide wind protection, thermal protection of the house or protection against ultraviolet radiation, and also against burglary. Continue reading “What is smart shading and how does it protect your house?” »
Plants of any kind bring life and beauty into our environment. Whether they are green or with colorful flowers, the plants on the balcony and in the house bring nature closer to us, even if we live in large urban areas. And air quality is much improved in any enclosed space where there are plants.
A balcony, no matter how small, can be an isle of peace and relaxation when we return home. And in the past months, when we had to spend even more time indoors, we all felt the importance of such a “green corner”. And gardening, even if it only means watering the flowers for a few minutes, relaxes us and frees us from the worries of the day.
Now, however, we return to our hectic lives, thinking about summer vacation and less about our green corner from home, which could suffer because of this. What do we do if we don’t have time, in the evening, to water all the flowers after a hot day? Or what do we do if we plan to go on vacation and do not have reliable friends, who could come at least periodically to water our plants? Continue reading “VIKI, the skilled gardener! How does the house take care of your plants, in your absence?” »
VIKI the “virtual butler” gets some help when it comes to the safety of the family living in the smart home. These small sensors, each with its own field of activity, quickly inform VIKI about changes in the physical-chemical parameters in the house. The VIKI team presents a review of the types of sensors used by the VIKI smart home and their role in ensuring its worry-free operation.
CO sensor – Carbon monoxide is an invisible and odorless gas, very dangerous for both humans and animals. This sensor monitors the key appliances in the home: boiler, stove / central heating unit, stove / oven, fireplace. When a hazard is triggered, when maximum levels of Carbon monoxide are reached, the sensor communicates with the VIKI application and sends users instant notifications in the form of alerts on the mobile phone as well as on the tablets in the house. Continue reading “Sensor types and their role in the VIKI smart home” »
The VIKI team learned and tested in the past days the structure of the telegrams that can be sent in the KNX protocol and technology.
The system proposed by KNX has demonstrated flexibility and compatibility with our plans to extend the VIKI solution, and its automation facilities will be successfully completed by the intelligence layer developed by us, regarding the control of the light, climate or the control of the security system. Continue reading “VIKI and KNX go caroling together” »
Home automation is the technology of the future already present in our lives. With every automated device in your home, you take a step towards comfort, safety and an efficient way of life.
Access to the smart home can be secured by different devices and modern technologies. The VIKI team comes with some suggestions and information regarding quick and safe access to the home and the option of being permanently connected with it. Continue reading “Automated access in a smart home” »
In one of our projects we have integrated over 200 pieces of automation equipment working in DALI, Z-Wave, BLE, WIFI, Ethernet technologies. From voice control, light control to water tank filling and irrigation control for the green wall, everything is controlled by VIKI. The video below shows the 24-hour activity of the VIKI smart home in 4 minutes and shows why VIKI is unique in the home automation systems world. Continue reading “Basic components of a VIKI system [VIDEO]” »
AMMA 2018 is the 4th International Congress of Automobile and Transport Engineering, held between October 17-19, 2018, at the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca.
The VIKI team will attend for the first time as an exhibitor at this event, bringing among the participants the VIKI system and the facilities of a customized environment with a view to the applicability of such a solution inside cars. With personalized climate, lighting, multimedia facilities, we will challenge visitors to the stand to make a trip in the near future, where the car they drive will learn their behavior and environmental preferences, then automatically apply them in the most natural way. Continue reading “VIKI will attend AMMA 2018” »
The idea of a connected home has been around for many years, in the way of controlling the home from your mobile phone, tablet and, more recently, with the help of a virtual assistant. Nowadays, there are countless solutions that allow you to turn on the lights, turn the TV on or off, set the room temperature. But can they be called “smart”, as long as the action is initiated from the phone, tablet, voice or pre-programmed by a technician who hard-codes the actions of the “smart” house?
We dare to say, after many discussions with users of smart homes and specialists, during the event IMWorld 2018, that only the VIKI system behaves like a true virtual butler, who knows your habits and preferences.
VIKI has that added artificial intelligence needed for any connected home solution, so that, once installed, it will turn your home into a truly intelligent one. VIKI means more than just connecting devices to a common database, implementing algorithms to learn user preferences, managing to become a partner. Specifically, VIKI intelligence will learn by itself to control the lights, the temperature, the windows blinds, the multimedia equipment in the house, analyzing the current context and acting on the patterns identified in the previous experience.
VIKI is no longer just an idea, it is a reality, implemented in homes as real as possible. We spent a day with VIKI in an apartment in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, and we observed it “at work”. Within a few weeks after installation, VIKI learned the preferences of the owner of the house. VIKI turns on the radio with the favorite news program in “Good Morning” mode, it raises the blinds, brews the coffee and turns on the right lights, in the right rooms.
When the owner leaves the house, VIKI locks the door, turns off the lights and continues to “work” during the users’ absence: it waters the plants, it lowers the blinds if the sun is too strong, it watches that everything is in order and it sends alerts on the user’s mobile phone if the sensors detect smoke (fire alert), gas or water (flood alert), if a door or window has been opened (break-in alert).
For each scenario, VIKI knows how to act: it permanently learns when the user is at home and performs pre-programmed actions when the user is away or is resting. When the user returns home, the temperature is just right, and the lights turn on when needed. In the evening, it’s VIKI, again, that creates the proper conditions for relaxation and rest.
We invite you to watch the video to understand why VIKI is special and unique in the field of home automation systems.
