One of the best-known science fiction authors, HG Wells, predicted the appearance of automatic doors more than a hundred years ago. In his novel, When the Sleeping Man Awakens, the author speaks of an automatic door that rolls upward. If HG Wells lived now and was aware of the latest technological advances, surely his imagination and intelligence would allow him to guess what the automatic doors of the future will be like.
Because the uses and applications of the technology that is currently being developed will greatly influence how automatic doors will be in the coming years. New tools and applications for example that will allow you to open the door of your house simply by pressing a button on your Smartphone. Thus, what is a traditional door becomes an automatic door simply by using a smart lock connected to the mobile phone.
This control by the Smartphone can also be applied in office buildings, for example. The aim is for the door to stop being an isolated element and to integrate it into the building and its technological and control infrastructure, reducing operating and maintenance costs.
Another technology that will undoubtedly influence the development of the automatic doors of the future will have much to say in this, the Internet of Things (IoT, for the acronym in English of Internet of Things). The Internet of Things is the digitization of the physical world. The objects will connect with each other and with the Network and will offer data of all kinds in real time. It is a revolution in the relationships between objects and people. Applied to automatic doors, it will connect all the systems of a building, elevators, entry and exit systems, sensors, lighting … In this way, for example, the building will recognize the user and save their usual movements and when they leave their office it will be sent a warning to the elevator that will be waiting for you with the doors open when you arrive and while you get down in it, the system will send a signal to warn the automatic doors that they have to open because a person is about to leave.
Another example of what the automatic doors of the future will be like has to do with the sensors on those doors. The Chofu University of Electro-communications (Japan) is working to design more intelligent sensors, which detect if we really want to pass or are simply close. The system will have a 3D laser sensor that scans the entrance and not only detects people but can know if they are looking at the door, track their movements and deduce if they want to pass. In addition, the system also perceives the speed and will open the door more or less quickly or the opening will be greater if there is a group that wants to enter. With this, it will be possible to offer a better service, greater security and also make the building more sustainable.
The development of new products and technologies in the sector affects the improvement of functional performance, safety, maintenance, usability and energy efficiency. In the case of energy efficiency, progress is being made towards new materials in the panels that increase thermal insulation by reducing the thickness of the door, to design lighter and more sustainable automatic doors.
Regarding usability, work is being done to design more reliable elements, which increase their useful life and reduce the risks of breakage. In addition, it is moving towards systems that are easier to use, very intuitive, to improve the user experience. Related to this, another aspect of the automatic doors of the future is their contribution to comfort, with doors that are increasingly silent and faster, which are no longer seen as barriers of passage to become one more element of daily life.
In this sense, more and more options are available on the market to meet this demand. The truth is that only some offer all the necessary technology at a fair price, delivering all the security and functionality benefits that the market now demands.
Such is the case of Netzhome, a firm that puts on the table great options to embrace the trend of smart homes at low costs.
With this in mind, it is worth reviewing a part of the offer that Netzhome brings to the table in terms of smart sensors:
Door and window sensors
It is an easy way to remotely monitor your home and control the opening or closing of doors and windows. They are simple to install, run on batteries and can be controlled from a mobile application.
Temperature sensor
It is a functional device both to regulate the temperature in a given room and to receive an alert in the event of incidents such as fires, for example.
In the same way that it works with sensors for windows and doors, this type of device works with batteries and can be controlled through a mobile app.
Water sensor
It is a sensor that allows detecting possible floods based on their location. In the event of one of these eventualities, the sensor issues an alert that reaches the user’s smartphone. Additionally, we are talking about a sensor that operates with disposable batteries, which can mean minimal energy consumption.
Motion sensor
Like the previous ones, this device emits an alert when movement is detected in a certain room or space of any property. It works through a Wi-Fi connection and can be associated with smart speakers such as Alexa or Google Mini.
