This Device Gives Users the Power to Program Their Own Smart Home

The world continues to get more connected, and the Internet of Things grows rapidly grows each year. But one simple motherboard could give creative programmers the freedom to connect whatever they want, however they want. 

The CM3-Home is a Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3 designed to give anyone the power to automate systems within their homes. The display was certainly turning heads at this year's Maker Faire Rome.

Favorire la riduzione degli sprechi partendo... dalla tavola e dal #food ?? @eni ti aspetta con l’innovativo #RistoranteCircolare nel grandissimo spazio (oltre 600mq!) del Pad.6 di #MFR18! pic.twitter.com/eHLNGKipzC

— Maker Faire Rome - The European Edition (@MakerFaireRome) October 14, 2018

Features of the CM3-Home

The CM3-Home isn't a traditional smart home device. The open source software and Raspberry Pi interface allow for extra modules to be added with ease. 

We're at @MakerFaireRome. Are you at @MakerFaireRome? Come and find us at @MakerFaireRome.

...@MakerFaireRome pic.twitter.com/NJbfme4Xy4

— Raspberry Pi (@Raspberry_Pi) October 12, 2018

Want to connect another device? Feel free using Arduino and Raspberry Pi. And best of all both Arduino and Raspberry Pi were on full display at Maker Faire Rome 2018 to offer you countless more creative ideas.  

? #MFR18 pic.twitter.com/yUgdY6X2zD

— Arduino (@arduino) October 12, 2018

But more about that later. For now, let me tell you more about the CM3-Home board. It was designed to be installed within a DIN rail switchboard. It also protects against EMI and static charges and can handle harsh environments. 

An interview with the CM3-Home innovator 

CM3-Home and the companion CM3-Panel came from Italian author, designer, and developer Guido Ottaviani. Ottaviani founded GUIOTT, a company where his creations and open source software can be accessed by anyone around the world. 

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He deals with electronic design and embedded system firmware for Robotics and industrial and civil applications, as well as technical disclosure on the internet.

"The idea [for CM3-Home] came by knowing the Raspberry PI Compute Module 3 (CM3) that offers the capability to develop your own board," Ottaviani said in an exclusive interview with Interesting Engineering. "With an industrial, certified board, already populated with direct hardware interfaces, a lot of more possibilities come up compared to a standard Raspberry PI 3 with a bunch of USB adapters attached."

"The RPI 3 can be good for a maker or to develop the idea but when you need to install a real system in a real environment you need a professional board," he continued.

There's a growing need for automated technology. As more of these systems become available, the price will go lower and giving more people the opportunity to customize their own solutions.

"I guess right now there is all the technology to develop whatever you want in a reasonable price. In the moment that also IKEA came out with its Tradfri system, the domotics is for all of us, not just nerd, geeks or big manors for rich people," Ottaviani said. 

@acmesystemssrl and the TanzoLab project group (https://t.co/Cgp1Z592wC) will be at #MFR17 - December 1-3, 2017 to officially launch the #cm3home board for #RaspberryPi compute module 3 https://t.co/1CZVEoZX4g pic.twitter.com/TUCaON9xQw

— Acme Systems srl (@acmesystemssrl) November 29, 2017

"Automate home appliances will be more and more common for every environment, both domestic or industrial," he continued. "Wireless, not just WiFi but 868MHz or similar more reliable radio systems, will become more and more common on already installed houses. But they will still live together with the rock-solid wired systems for a lot of time."