SAP and Quinso developed a smart thermostat for customer Remeha in one week. SAP colleague Twan van de Broek, Enterprise Architect at SAP, wrote a blog about it.
Do you still run toward the thermostat when you’re cold? Or are you one of those digi-fans with a clever variant? Good news if you belong to the latter group. In fact, even more is possible! I discovered that when we got to work in the #RunLiveTruck with Remeha, specialist in climate solutions. In my work, I am always looking for smart innovative solutions. For example, I am impressed by
Amazon’s Alexa
, the smart speaker that gives you voice commands can give. In the #RunLiveTruck we linked Alexa to Remeha’s solutions. The result? Within one week, the team of experts realized a prototype demo.
Smart thermostats: control from any location and at any time
Up a notch in smart thermostats: that’s what this #RunLiveTruck case is all about. Remeha has a very versatile, safe and user-friendly smart thermostat: when you’re at work, you can already turn on your heating remotely, so you come home to a warm house. So the heater can be controlled with your phone or tablet at any time. No matter where you are in the Netherlands. In terms of service, Remeha’s smart thermostat is also a feat: malfunctions are signaled earlier, you get insight into your gas consumption and it also “connects” with online weather services.
Additional features for even more comfort
As I said before, “more is possible. The next step – or rather, to continue speaking in terms of thermostats, one level up – is to add additional functionality. This will make the user experience even better. The prototype we developed for Remeha is an extension of an already existing app. Among other things, we linked to the user’s digital calendar, so that the app knows when you are home and when you are not. As a result, you no longer have to arrange for the heating to turn on yourself; that is done automatically. Because of this link with your calendar, the smart thermostat knows when you are coming home and so it turns on the heating half an hour in advance so that your home is pleasantly warm when you enter. And before you need to get out the door? When you get out of bed, the smart thermostat has already taken care of the right temperature. That way you don’t have to eat your breakfast in the cold.
Location tracking and responding accordingly
Remote control, linking to weather services and your calendar are interesting features, but what about linking to geofencing? This allows the smart thermostat to see exactly where you are. Useful when your calendar says you have an offsite appointment, but you still decide to work from home. That way, the heating won’t turn off because the thermostat sees that you haven’t left the house. Or suppose: you’re normally home by six, but find yourself in a traffic jam or decide to stop by a friend’s house. The smart thermostat turns off the heating previously turned on and causes it to turn on again when you are near your home again.
‘Alexa, make it 21 degrees, please’
Where does that leave Alexa in this story? I was already getting excited about pairing the smart thermostat with a digital calendar. The use of geofencing also makes me happy. But what really gets my heart racing is the pairing with Alexa. The smart speaker can be used for many requests for help. When ordering food, switching between radio and TV channels or because you don’t feel like typing a question into Google, for example. In the #RunLiveTruck, we integrated Alexa with the smart thermostat. Thus, you can ask her to turn the heating up, down, off or on. Always nice to have a personal assistant to make sure you are nice and warm!
So we can do a lot with technology, we already knew that. Despite that knowledge, many customers and users are still amazed at the possibilities every time. That’s what makes the #RunLiveTruck such a great project to work on. So we are excited about the demo we accomplished within one week and so is Alexa!
This project came about thanks to a great collaboration between Quinso, Remeha and SAP. Together, we developed the next-level thermostat. Want to learn more about this project and the Run Live Truck? Then be sure to check out
this short video
and read the blog
‘Innovation is not hocus-pocus’
.
