探索尚不成熟的智能家居控制系统

Dear house: When I wake up, please turn on the lights, crank up the heat, play some tunes and brew my coffee.

亲爱的房子：当我起床的时候，请打开电灯，调高室温，放点音乐，把我的咖啡煮好。

Who hasn't dreamt of a house that can take orders? Austin Powers's bed rotates and plays bossa nova at his command. Wallace and Gromit, the animated Englishman and his dog, live in a house that can wake you, drop you into pants and spread jam on your toast -- though it never quite works as designed.

谁不曾梦想拥有一座能够言听计从的房子？《王牌大贱谍》(Austin Powers)主角奥斯汀・鲍尔斯的床就能在他的指令下旋转起来，播放巴萨诺瓦音乐。动画片《超级无敌掌门狗》(Wallace and Gromit)当中的英国人华力士和他的爱犬格罗米特就生活在一座可以叫你起床、给你穿裤子、给吐司抹上果酱的房子――只不过它总是不完全按照设计初衷来运转。

While I'm still looking for the perfect Internet-connected toaster, I feel a little like Wallace. My 'smart' house has a Nest thermostat, app-controlled Philips Hue light bulbs, Dropcam streaming security camera, Sonos wireless speakers and a few other automated thingamabobs. Yet for all that, my devices don't know how to work together.

虽然我还没有找到完美的联网烤面包机，但我感觉自己已经有点像华力士那样了。我的“智能”房屋有Nest温控器、靠应用程序控制的飞利浦(Philips) Hue灯泡、Dropcam的串流安监摄像头、Sonos无线扬声器和其他几样自动化的东西。然而，这些设备并不知道怎样协同工作。

That's because I need more devices! A few companies have begun selling hardware and apps that orchestrate different devices in your home so they talk to each other and to your phone. I've been testing three of these controllers, none of which charge a monthly fee: the $299 Revolv, $99 Staples Connect and $99 SmartThings.

这是因为我还需要更多的设备！有几家公司已经开始出售协调住宅内不同设备、使之能相互沟通并与你的电话沟通的硬件和设备。我这段时间在测试三款这样的控制器。它们都不收取月费，分别是299美元的Revolv、99美元的Staples Connect和99美元的SmartThings。

When I began playing around with these systems several weeks ago, I had the feeling we were on the cusp of solving the smart-home puzzle. So many startups are focusing on home automation and security, while big guns like Google (which just bought Nest) are quietly preparing their moves as well. But bringing any of the current options home will make your life unnecessarily complex. Hobbyists will enjoy tinkering with these systems, but for anybody else who cares about their marriages, children and sanity, my recommendation is to wait.

几个星期前开始摆弄这些系统的时候，我感觉我们已经位于解答智能家居谜题的边缘。许许多多的初创企业都在专攻住宅自动化和住宅安全，同时谷歌（刚刚收购了Nest）等大牌企业也在悄悄地布局。但把目前这些解决方案中的任何一项拿回家去都会使你的生活变得不必要地复杂。玩家会喜欢鼓捣这些系统，但对于关心婚姻、孩子和心智健康的其他人来说，我的建议是再等等。

When you automate your home with a hub today, physical controls, whether a light switch or coffeepot buttons, suddenly become unusable or screw up an automated program. You and your family will have to think in terms of programming your lives. And no single hub can yet talk to all smart devices.

今天当你用某个控制中心实现住宅的自动化之后，实体操控装置（不管是电灯开关还是咖啡壶按钮）会在突然之间变得无法使用，或者与自动化程序不兼容。你和家人将不得不考虑怎样给生活编程。而且目前还没有哪一个控制中心可以跟所有智能设备对话。

My house can now do some nifty tricks, like alerting my phone whenever a door opens, and turning on my porch light when I get a few blocks from home. But figuring it all out was time-consuming, expensive and occasionally screwball.

现在我的房子可以耍一些巧妙的戏法，比如在家中某个房门打开的时候提醒我的手机，在我离家仅几个街区的时候打开门廊灯。但要全部搞懂，既费时又费钱，有时候还显得很奇怪。

Smartening up a home begins with installing a hub. All three are about the size of a big sandwich, designed to be plugged into a home network and hidden away. The problems begin when they connect. SmartThings doesn't have Wi-Fi, so it has to be plugged into a router. That's fine if your router sits in the middle of your house, but my house is long and narrow, with the router at one end.

住宅智能化首先是安装一个控制中心。我试用的这三款控制中心都是大号三明治大小，都是要接入住宅网络并且很隐蔽。联网的时候就开始出问题。SmartThings没有Wi-Fi，所以必须插入一台路由器。如果路由器位于房子的中央位置那还好说，但我的房子又长又窄，路由器放在了房子的一头。

Revolv, wirelessly communicating from the middle of my house, seemed to do the best job sensing everything. But it couldn't even reach wireless Insteon light bulbs on both ends of my house. I had to move them closer to make my hub happy.

Revolv从房子中央通过无线方式交流，在感应所有东西方面似乎是最出色的。但它连房子两头的Insteon无线灯泡都接触不到。为了让这个控制中心满意，我不得不把灯泡移得更近一些。

Sadly, that was just the beginning. When it comes to my morning routine, ideally a hub would know I was awake because my activity tracker would tell it I'm stirring. But none of the hubs yet talk to wearables like the Fitbit and the Jawbone Up. I installed three motion sensors outside my bedroom to alert my hubs.

可叹的是，这仅仅是开始。处理晨间任务的时候，理想的情况是控制中心能够知道我已经醒了，因为我的活动跟踪器会告诉它我在忙乎。但还没有哪一款控制中心能跟Fitbit、Jawbone Up之类的可穿戴设备沟通。我在卧室外安装了三台动作感应器来提醒控制中心。

Once I triggered a motion sensor, Revolv was the only one smart enough to complete all the tasks I asked it to do: Turn on lights, crank up my Nest thermostat, activate my Sonos speakers and turn on the power to my coffee maker. Revolv can do this in part because it has more radio transmitters than the competition.

当我触发了动作感应器之后，只有Revolv的智能化程度能够完成我下达的所有任务：开灯、上调Nest温控器温度、激活Sonos扬声器、给咖啡机通电。Revolv之所以能够完成这些任务，一个原因是它的无线电发射器比竞争对手更多。

Though Revolv tapped into my Nest unlike the others, a representative for Nest warned me that it isn't an authorized use, and any software updates could disrupt the thermostat's compatibility. For that reason, I can't recommend these hubs for Nest owners. The three hubs do work with other thermostat makers.

虽然Revolv实现了对Nest温控器的控制，有别于其他控制中心，但Nest公司的一名代表提醒我，这不是授权用途，如果软件升级，则有可能干扰温控器与控制中心的兼容性。因此我无法向Nest用户推荐这几款控制中心。这三款控制中心与其他温控器倒是兼容的。

This brings up a core issue. Many device makers haven't opened up their systems to home controllers because of concerns over security and technology standards. Without more cooperation, hub makers are unable to fulfill the dream of a fully automated home. The Staples hub maker says it doesn't want to support unencrypted devices, and forges partnerships to ensure stability.

这就带来了一个核心问题。出于安全和技术标准方面的考虑，许多设备生产商还没有向住宅控制装置开放系统。在没有更多合作的情况下，控制中心生产商就无法实现住宅全自动化的梦想。Staples控制中心生产商说，它不想支持未加密设备，并通过与设备制造商结成合作关系来确保稳定。

Getting the software right is another challenge. All three hubs let you turn on and off devices via your smartphone. But programming automatic routines requires solving logic puzzles the likes of which you see on the LSAT: If the hub senses A during B time of day, then it will do C, but only if D isn't around.

设置软件又是一重挑战。三款控制中心都允许你通过智能手机打开、关闭设备。但编写自动化的日常事务需要解决一些类似于法学院入学考试的逻辑题：如果控制中心在一天的A时刻感知到B事件，那么它将执行C任务，但前提是D事件没有发生。

The best software of the lot, by far, was SmartThings. With it, you build commands around specific needs and moments. I used its 'rise and shine' template to tell it to look for action on a sensor between 6:45 a.m. and 8 a.m., and then turn on lights, speakers and my coffeepot. Another program turns off all of those things when I -- or at least my phone -- leaves the house. But sometimes those programs would inexplicably fail -- and I couldn't tell if it was my bad programming, or something wrong with the system.

目前为止软件做得最好的是SmartThings。它是围绕具体的需求和时刻来建立指令。我用它“起床晒太阳”的模板让它在早上6点45分至早上八点的时间段内留意一个传感器上的动作，然后打开灯光、扬声器和咖啡壶。另一个程序在我（至手是我的手机）离开房子的时候把这一切都关掉。但有时候这些程序不知何故失灵了，我也不知道是我编程不对，还是系统出了问题。

Staples Connect offered some of the same capabilities, but in an interface that was much more difficult to use and often more buggy.

Staples Connect也有一部分相同的功能，但它的界面用起来难了很多，而且常常显得更加神经兮兮的。

Revolv may have been the hero at connecting to the most devices, but it software lacks the ability to understand conditions, like time of day. I could create a 'good morning' routine to be activated by the motion sensor, but if I got up in the middle of the night, the program would kick off then, too. One Sunday night, it kicked off my morning routine over and over, with lights blazing and heater blasting. I'm sorry, Revolv, but I just unplugged you. The company, says it is working on adding conditions to the app.

在连接设备最多这一点上，Revolv可能算是最佳的，但它的软件缺乏理解条件（比如时刻）的能力。我可以设置一串“早上好”的指令，由动作感应器来激活，但如果我在半夜起床，程序也会激活。一个星期天的晚上，它一遍又一遍地启动我早上要做的那些事情，灯光刺眼、温控器热浪袭人。对不起Revolv，但我只能拔掉你的电源了。Revolv公司说，它正在为应用程序增加条件。

My experience speaks to a broader problem. Our lives often have a rhythm, but it will require a much more sophisticated artificial intelligence to program a house around the way we live. Sometimes I want the lights off at 11; other times, people come home late. I'd like to be alerted if there's unexpected motion at home, but not if it's a cat.

我的体验揭示了一个更大的问题。我们的生活常常是有节奏的，但要围绕我们的生活方式来给住宅编程，目前人工智能的复杂程度还远远不够。有时候我想在11点钟熄灯，还有些时候大家回家较晚。如果屋内有意外动作，我希望获得提醒，但如果是一只猫那就算了。

It's easy to see how home automation will advance -- all of the hub makers say they're regularly rolling out updates to make their software more intuitive and compatible with more devices. But my life needs more flexibility than what today's hubs can handle.

住宅自动化的进步可以很容易看得到――所有控制中心生产商都说，它们正在不断地推出更新，让软件更加直观、与更多的设备兼容。但我的生活需要的灵活机动性，超出了今天的控制中心能够应付的水平。