Step 7/13 Create lighting Automation

The word "Automation" holds a mystery in today's world. It entails both feelings of hope and confusion if you are not familiar with it. Starting with this blog post, we will break the barrier of this myth by creating our first Automation. Within our last blog post we discussed in depth about Tap-to-Run program, where all devices could be triggered with a single tap. Automation takes this experience even further. This is the starting point on the path towards full house Automation, and the setup process only consists of 3 easy steps. As lighting guides us through the day it is fitting to create our first Automation for smart lighting in your home.

As the first step of this process, you will have to choose between 4 types of conditions. Each condition works with its own set rules, thus giving a specific purpose for the whole Automation. Here you will understand what we mean by that:

Your devices can work according to weather forecast within your area. When the weather changes condition allows you to set up precise weather patterns like wind speed, humidity and sunset/sunrise and link devices to these weather changes. For example, when the sun sets, all of the lights that are switched on will change to warmer tones. In order to activate this condition you should activate your location.

If you already have set up your home location, you can further automate your devices to work bases on approaching or leaving home. Devices connected to this Automation will recognize your phone location if you choose When location changes condition. For example, your lights will automatically turn Off when you have left your home. In order to activate this condition you should activate your location.

Create a Schedule for your devices to activate at a specific time of the day. For example, you can set for the lights to turn on at 08:00 every morning on weekdays. This is an excellent addition to everyone who likes to be consistent with their daily routine.

When devices status changes is based on the relationship between smart devices. One or multiple trigger devices will determine when the rest of the devices will start working. For example, set for the motion sensor to turn on the lights when a movement is detected. However, to be more precise, you will want to add the same lights within the condition to ensure that the automation works only when the lights are turned Off (select when all conditions are met).

Once you have chosen conditions for your Automation, you should select the specific functions for your devices to carry out. Within this step you also have 4 possible options. Here you should provide all the specific details that you want to automate. Get creative, mix and match these tasks and take advantage of all the possibilities.

Within the Run the device task, you will be presented with a list of all smart devices in your Virtual Home. Here you should choose the specific devices that you want in this automation. If you wish to turn on the lights at your front door - select these lights and adjust the settings like color and brightness.

Select Smart allows users to choose already created smart programs. As smart programs already have specific conditions and tasks, when building another Automation or Tap-to-Run on top of it, the conditions that need to be met will double. Let’s look at an example where you have already created a Tap-to-Run for your living room lights. If you select this program, it will work automatically based on 4 mentioned conditions, for example, work according to a Schedule.

Within the settings, you can enable or disable notifications, however you can also receive Notifications when a specific device or program is triggered. Imagine a scenario where lights turn on in your house when no one is supposed to be home. By selecting this task, you can receive a notification at that exact moment.

With the Delay task, you can arrange for the selected devices to change their status after a specific time period. For example, the lights change color from red to blue after a few seconds.

Before you move forward, here you have the chance to adjust the placement of the tasks and delete them if necessary. It can be useful to adjust the placement for each task where for android it works by dragging and dropping each task. If you have an apple device you should:

• Swipe left on the tasks
• Select More
• Move tasks by holding on the 3 lines

The last step within the Automation process is to customize the look and adjust schedule. Create a name that you will always recognize to help you navigate through the App. In addition, it would be helpful to change the color and icon to make it stand out. This part is not mandatory, but it would contribute to your overall comfort.

If you want to adjust the schedule, there are already pre-set options, like Daytime and Night, or customize the time yourself. With that, the automation process is complete. If later, you need to adjust any setting it can be accessed by selecting the 3 dots on the rights side of the specific automation icon.

Now that we have learned in-depth about each Automation step and all the lighting possibilities it holds, we can continue our Automation journey with smart electricals. You already knew that you could give a smart life to regular devices, but within our next blog post, we will take it a step forward and automate them with the help of smart switches, strips and plugs.

RobertSmart App is constantly evolving, therefore, this information complies with the 5.5.230 version.