Google’s Home Automation Surges Ahead, Outpacing the Competition

Google Home is gaining intelligence. In a pair of blog posts published today, Google announced a slew of new automation starters and actions rolling out in the Home app, as well as some really interesting features coming to the script editor for Public Preview participants.

When devices open or close, in response to temperature or humidity changes or occupancy sensing, if devices are connected in, begin charging, dock or undock, or if the volume is muted or unmuted, the Home app can now initiate routines.

New actions include opening or closing devices (such as shades), pausing or unpausing media, beginning / pausing / resuming timers, docking devices, enabling illumination effects, rebooting devices, setting humidity targets, etc. The complete list of new starters and actions is available in Google’s blog post.

When you combine these with the existing Google Home triggers and actions, you can enable some fairly cool automations, such as:

• If the relative humidity exceeds 60 percent, a smart outlet connected to a dehumidifier will activate.
• The intelligent shutters can be lowered or raised depending on the time of day or temperature.
• Dimming the lights when the television is paused and brightening them when it is resumed.
• If your smart lock becomes jammed, a flashing light will illuminate.

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Streamlining Automation with Triggers and Actions in the Home App for a More Accessible Experience

After a lengthy period of lagging behind the competition, Google Home is beginning to resemble a legitimate smart home platform. It’s fantastic to see triggers and actions migrate to the Home app from the script editor, which is only available in Public Preview and isn’t exactly user-friendly for non-coders.

Regarding the script editor, it now supports camera event triggers, customized notifications, and trigger suppression. Camera events include the detection of packages, recognizable faces, motion, and pets. What purpose does it serve? I’ll just directly quote the blog post:

“Dog detected: When a dog is detected, you can play calming music to help your dog relax. You can also set up your Chromecast with Google TV to play a dog-friendly TV show.”

Now, your dog can turn on the TV. What a world!

More practical for home automation tinkerers is the ability to create custom phone notifications (so you can receive a notification when your dog turns on the television or when your robot vacuum finishes vacuuming) and starter suppression (so the television only turns on the first time your dog walks in front of a camera today).

I’m quite enthusiastic about the conclusion. When I first gained access to the script editor, I programmed the office lighting to turn on when motion was detected. This was effective until the first time I strolled into the office in the evening to turn off the lights, only to have them immediately turn back on when I exited. Starter suppression will be extremely useful.

Google reports that the new Home and script editor features are being rolled out beginning today; I have yet to see either on my account, on Android, iOS, or the web, but rolling out means rolling out.

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Source: The Verge