This thesis analyzes the current obstacles of adopting home automation and presents a prototype home automation platform that addresses those issues. Unlike most existing platforms, this prototype platform aims to retrofit and augment current home devices and infrastructures, rather than replacing them, thus saving on cost and unnecessary technological upgrades. Moreover, the user interface of this prototype platform is designed with simplicity and extensibility to allow ease of integration and user customizability across different devices. This prototype platform is comprised of a central application that remotely controls a wireless network of devices that retrofit physical interfaces to enable remote control, monitoring, and automation capabilities on existing infrastructures. By generalizing the control and automation problem into simple physical actions, this prototype platform provides an easy, low-cost, and flexible solution for home automation.
