Inroduction to Home Automation Home automation or domotics is building automation for a home, called a smart home or smart house . It involves the control and automation of lighting, heating (such as smart thermostats ), ventilation, air conditioning ( HVAC ), and security, as well as home appliances such as washer/dryers, ovens or refrigerators/freezers. Wi-Fi is often used for remote monitoring and control. Home devices, when remotely monitored and controlled via the Internet, are an important constituent of the Internet of Things . Modern systems generally consist of switches and sensors connected to a central hub sometimes called a "gateway" from which the system is controlled with a user interface that is interacted either with a wall-mounted terminal, mobile phone software, tablet computer or a web interface, often but not always via Internet cloud services. ...