What techniques should I learn to be able to control appliance programmatically?

Question

I'd like to be able to control household appliances.

I don't know where to get started, does anyone have any tips?

Answer 1

As Jammin suggests there is the possibility to use KNX. KNX is a communication protocol typically used for home/building automation. There are hundreds of KNX devices capable of controlling electrical equipment but the cost would be overkill just for controlling a few home appliances.

I agree that you should learn how to use a microcontroller, a great starting point would be using an Arduino board. They are cheap, very easy to use with a wealth of source code & tutorials available.

try a starter project such as getting the arduino to turn on a lamp. Try this tutorial

Answer 2

Read the first capters of "The art of electronics" for a background on power transistors. Then learn about microcontrollers. I recommend AVRs, with the avrisp mkII programmer. It works with windows/linux/mac and gcc. AVRs can communicate over usb,serial,spi and given extra hardware, radio.

Answer 3

1) Learn how to build an electronic circuit for the devices you want to control.
2) Find a microcontroller that can be able to fit your requirements.
3) Download the Microcontroller SDK from the manufacturer site
4) Learn how to program it
5) Test and deploy when done.

That's what we did with PIC18F4520 microcontrollers when we tried to control power usage from our homes.

Or, 6) Buy a product already done. (Microsoft perhaps!)

Answer 4

If by any chance you mean household appliances, youll need to start with KNX And, word to the wise, their API is shockingly frustratingly not nice nor fun; or at least it was when we did a job a few years back.