Pipesbox - Smart Home link

Jan Krog and Elmar Zeeb wanted to develop a particularly user-friendly solution for smart home applications, as a pipes-box founder Zeeb, during a research project on the topic of device networking, came up with the idea of ​​working on a smart home application that could be implemented without extensive programming by the User. The product should be more flexible than the usual solutions, less device-centric and above all more versatile – and open source, so that experiments and extensions in DIY projects are possible.


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First of all, you asked smart-home prospects in their circle of acquaintances, the university environment and online preferred areas of application for clever house-control solutions, and found that the motivation is different from the users themselves. Jan Krog: "One may just want to experiment and switch devices on and off, the next one expects energy-transparency from a smart-home application and the possibility to save money in a targeted manner , Webcams and other security solutions, or whether Omas Gummibaum still has enough water - so we have built the Pipesbox so that all the different things and devices can work together and communicate with each other, no matter what technology is in use. "


Integration is everything


There are as many possible applications for pipes as devices whose manufacturers allow to link to the box. One can connect a telephone with a lamp, for example, which starts to flash when someone calls. Thus, even vacuum cleaner noise or loud music can not prevent the right person from being aware of the call. If the pipes box is supplemented with an additionally available plant sensor, the user is not only informed about water and nutrient requirements, but is also automatically published on Facebook when the bureau has been optimally supplied.


Components of the Pipes box


From gimmicks to concrete work facilitation and remote monitoring of important workflows, everything is possible because with the Pipesbox it is not only possible to monitor and supervise important workflows, everything is possible, because with the Pipesbox you can not just switch on and off buttons, but Especially different applications.


Security and privacy


While other smart home solutions are often device-centric, or focus on a single application, such as the control of a heating system, Pipesbox is more versatile and even allows you to share the links among individual devices - the so-called pipes - with others Also these users can use an already developed pipe in their own home. The whole thing should be as easy as installing an app on the smartphone, assures the developer team.


The devices communicate with each other - independent of the radio technology.


Jan Krog, founder of Pipesbox


The box itself forms, as expected, the technical basis for the use of the new invention. It is connected to the Internet router and can be used immediately via Z-Wave. Z-Wave is the wireless communications standard of the company Sigma Designs, which the Pipesbox team was the most appropriate for this purpose due to the numerous sensible devices to connect using this technology.


Other devices are directly addressed via the network and the box can also be extended via USB ports. After the successful installation, the user accesses the pipes box from home or on the road with a PC, tablet or smartphone. The web app works on all mobile operating systems such as iOS, Android or Windows Phone, as well as with any conventional browser on the PC. It serves as a control center for the entire Smart Home.


If you have a usable Smart Home idea and want to make it available to other Pipesbox fans, simply drag and drop the idea with the "Pipes Designer" and then make it available for one-click installation. For this purpose, functions of various devices and web services are linked, for example the "capture" function of a camera with the function "Upload file" from Dropbox. This creates a pipe that loads an image onto the dropbox.


The "Pipes Market" collects new exciting ideas: anyone who has a controllable socket, but no idea about the things that can be done with it, will find many interesting suggestions in the Pipes Market. Not just device links, but also useful extensions, such as a power saving app that visualizes consumption and shows where money can be saved.


Also >> real

In contrast to various other services, the pipes box does not send, let alone processes or saves, any sensor data or device control commands. All applications run exclusively on the small box at home. When accessing on the road, the Pipesbox establishes a secure connection to the server, which is located in the United States. The access to the box is always via this server, and only the user himself can access his devices and sensor data. All connections between smartphone and box or server are encrypted in the same way as with online banking.