Kit lets anyone design their own smart home without coding skills

LittleBits Smart Home Kit is enabling anyone to make their entire home smart using their existing appliances and without any programming skills.

We’ve all, at one time or other, thought about having those magic lights or stereo that come on simply by clapping. The Internet of Things is slowly making this type of appliance control easy for anyone to install in their homes, with claps more likely replaced by smartphone taps or algorithmic automation. We’ve already seen a few innovations — from Roost’s smart battery to LightFreq’s light and music control device. Now the LittleBits Smart Home Kit is enabling anyone to make their entire home smart using their existing appliances and without any programming skills.

Regular readers of Springwise may remember IFTTT, the service that uses digital ‘recipes’ to automate tasks across web platforms — for example, to post an image to Flickr as soon as it’s been newly synced with Dropbox. The LittleBits Smart Home Kit works in much the same way. It features 14 modules and 11 accessories that can add smart features to existing devices, including sound triggers, light sensors, temperature sensors and IR transmitters. Each piece can be combined in any way with the others, depending on their needs.

Watch the video below for some examples of how the kit can be used:

Priced at USD 249, the Smart Home Kit enables homeowners to take advantage of new technology without having to invest in loads of new products. It also gives them the opportunity to customize their own setup with little technical knowledge. Is this merely a stepping stone before the arrival of true IoT devices, or could this kind of customizable kit be the way homeowners personalize their own homes in the future?