I started DarwinsDen.com when I could not find the home automation resources I was looking for on the web. The information was out there for the most part on available devices and protocols, but I could never seem to find the comparison and feature data together in a format that helped me make decisions on path forward for devices, protocols and overall technology roadmaps.
I would not label myself as a home automation expert, but it’s difficult to claim to be in this era of rapidly changing and competing technologies. In many ways, I’m working my way through all of this with the rest of you. I have an engineering degree and decades of combined mechanical and software engineering experience. My resume includes leadership positions on large-scale sensor and control system development and integration efforts. My focus is, and will likely always be more on the architecture and potential of technologies than on the current state and implemented feature set of any one product. This next era extends the technology well beyond the home and into personal entertainment, health, and medical devices. In the end, the most successful architectures will be the ones that best abstract devices by their base capabilities and allow them to be cataloged through a robust taxonomy, and easily extended through simple control API’s into future applications that are unimaginable today.
I hope you find the content on these pages helpful. I apologize in advance for any incorrect data or oversimplified statements. Please drop me a note and let me know of any issues in need of correction, or if you have any suggestions on future subject matter, criteria or formatting. Unless otherwise noted, personally tested products and services have been purchased through standard retail channels, so ideally this will provide some indication of sample variation versus items hand-picked by vendors. I have never received nor have been offered free products or other compensation in return for positive review or endorsement.
This site is supported in part by advertising, although revenue is not its intended purpose. I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. This site generates a small percentage if purchases are made via the provided Amazon links. The content of the other ads are not chosen by me and I do not endorse the products shown on these random ads. I apologize if they are obtrusive. In no case will the opinions expressed on this site be biased by the advertising on these pages. Currently, all revenue received is used for site operating costs, purchase of products for review, and/or community software development support.
Lastly, the header image is a slice of a mosaic of the Veil Nebula courtesy of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. Please see NASA’s Image of the Day for more images that exist thanks to this incredible organization.
By the way, Darwin is our family pet desert tortoise, and the desire to monitor his backyard den is what inspired me to begin instrumenting our home environment in the first place.
Eric (aka Darwin)
Tesla referral code: ERIC78022