We’re back after a one-week break in the Internet of Things Podcast, and we didn’t miss too much. The biggest stories of this show are the slow collapse of CES 2022 and a Bloomberg article that uses internal Amazon documents to show how Alexa growth has stagnated and illustrates the hopes Amazon has for its smart speakers. We also talk about Alexa’s unfortunate suggestion to a 10-year-old looking for a challenge. After that, we discuss a survey related to edge computing from Zededa after we explain what edge computing means for different folks. Then, in smaller news, we highlight Level Lock’s new keypad, a smart ring, sales data on connected appliances, and my review of the Fi collar. We close out the news portions of the show by answering a listener question about why he can’t find Wi-Fi motion sensors anywhere.
Our guest this week is Raoul Wijgergangs CEO of EnOcean. Wijergangs joined EnOcean in August to help the maker of energy-harvesting IoT devices expand into building management with a focus on sustainability. In the interview, Wijergangs talks about what he’s learned from his efforts building out the Z-wave standard, and how he’s trying to apply an ecosystems approach to making buildings smarter. We also talk about the challenges of designing energy-harvesting sensors and what new energy harvesting technologies might become available. It’s a fun interview.
Hosts: Stacey Higginbotham and Kevin Tofel
Guest: Raoul Wijgergangs CEO of EnOcean
Sponsors: Twilio and Silicon Labs
- I’m no longer going to CES, and I’m not alone.
- Alexa and the smart home are stagnant.
- I love keypads with my smart locks.
- Sustainable buildings should be smart and need middleware to get there.
- New polymers might drive the next generation of energy harvesting devices.
For your caller looking for WiFi motion sensor, I agree 100% about power. Products like Swidget WiFi switches/dimmers/outlets solves the power issue while revising for motion sensor. Nuro wifi lighting also supports motion. BTW switches and outlets typically are in areas were you would be interested sending motion.
I won’t get a chance to listen to the podcast until Sunday, but meanwhile I did just want to make a quick comment on Wi-Fi motion sensors, a question that comes up fairly often.
I assume you replied that the basic answer is that Wi-Fi sucks too much power for most battery operated devices, so it just hasn’t been a popular choice for an expensive motion sensors.
However, the technology keeps getting better, and there are two possibilities for this.
1) cameras with built in motion sensors. There are lots of these, and some, like WYZE, Blink, and Eufy, are pretty inexpensive. You can even get integration with other home automation systems depending on the exact model you pick and the exact integration you need. Some will trigger an Alexa routine. Eufy will trigger a HomeKit routine. Some will work with IFTTT. But they are all based on what the camera sees, and there may be places in your home where you don’t want to camera.
2) The alternative, which you may have mentioned on the podcast, is a new Wi-Fi motion sensor from Shelly which is using the new SI Wi-Fi IOT chip. this one will work with quite a few integrations, and it has much better battery life than most Wi-Fi motion sensors. But reviews are middling: it seems to work great for some people and not for others. And you definitely need the most recent firmware update. But it’s worth taking a look at. Available in both US and EU versions.
https://www.amazon.com/Shelly-Detector-Security-Actions-Battery/dp/B0965KY2GK/
3) there are some other models from other brands but most of them have batteries they will only last for two or three months because of the Wi-Fi power drain, so I can’t recommend them. There are a few plug-ins (dlink notably used to make one, but I think it’s been discontinued), but most don’t have any integrations except maybe with Ifttt. The Shelly just wins in every category.
I forgot to mention that unlike most of the nonHomekit WiFi devices out there, the Shelly WiFi motion sensor does NOT require active internet access. You can run it locally if you want. This will probably be of the most interest to people who want to use it with home assistant.
Also if you like really detailed reviews with phrases like “The amount of granularity is refreshing,” Lewis Barclay has a very good 10 minute video review on Amazon with lots of detail:
https://www.amazon.com/vdp/0f002bce83f54fce92b7cd41522b015c?product=B0965KY2GK
I expect to see many of the eventual Matter-compliant WiFi devices taking advantage of the new SI approaches to power management for WiFi sensors which should really open up this category, but for now, Shelly is a top candidate unless you want to go the camera route.
Regarding the Bloomberg article on Alexa…the article says engagement per individual device. Not per Amazon account.
So…I have over a dozen echo devices in my house. Some of them, like the one in the guest room that controls the tv in that room, might only get used once every couple of months. There’s one in the laundry room which pretty much only gets used as a clock (so no measurable engagement) and to show the Ring doorbell if someone is in the laundry room when a visitor arrives. That unit was one of those free with another purchase acquisitions. But we’ve been really happy to have it where it is even though it gets very little “engagement.”
So I’m not sure the data leads to the conclusion that the article implies. We use Alexa a lot, every day. But we don’t use every Alexa device every day, or even every week.
This goes back to Stacey’s argument that home automation is about the services, not the hardware. The hardware is there to deliver the service. So stats per any one device may not be indicative of user satisfaction with the service overall.
And separately, speaking of hardware, I’m going to have to respectively disagree that an existing iPad has the hardware to act as a smart speaker with a screen. Take a look at the schematics for an echo device. It’s the microphone array design that made the Echo popular. Because it works for “across the room” voice recognition in ways that a tablet just doesn’t. Put an Echo on the wall or on a coffee table, turn on the tv at normal volume, and then walk into the room from pretty much any angle and you’ll still be able to interact with the device successfully by voice. As someone who is heavily dependent on voice (I’m quadriparetic) I’ve tried all kinds of voice solutions over the years, and anything that runs on a tablet or laptop will be fine at a distance of up to about 8”. But get farther away, or walk up from the wrong angle, and voice interaction will be much less successful. That’s why most of these systems prior to Echo relied on the user wearing a headset microphone.
The echo succeeded because of the amazing voice recognition, and that worked because of the hardware microphone array plus some other engineering features.
So while I, too, would really like to see a HomePod with a screen, it’s not going to be based on an iPad microphone system. As the old saying goes, “hardware is hard,” and inexpensive voice recognition hardware is among the hardest.
While I fully agree that battery powered, WiFi connected motion sensors have an energy problem, you missed that there ARE actually some available.
I use one that is built with Tuya tech inside and uses 3 AAA batteries, but seems to be available only in Europe. (https://www.amazon.de/Eboxer-PIR-Bewegungserkennungssensor-Drahtloser-Sicherheits-Einbruchalarmsensor-Sensor-default/dp/B07LCHJ76T)
If you search on Amazon for “Tuya Wifi Motion”, you will get some results: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=tuya+motion+wifi
Just make sure you pick a model that uses rechargeable batteries.