SuperHouse Vlog #50: The future of SuperHouse

I have a lot of fun making SuperHouse videos, but recently I’ve been thinking about ways that I can make them better. I have many ideas for different types of videos and a list of about 50 episodes I want to make in the future. Please have your say in the future of SuperHouse!

The Patreon page is at www.patreon.com/superhouse

Below is the original episode plan from the early concept for SuperHouse as a high-tech home renovation TV show. There were still some holes in it, but it gave us a rough outline for what we thought could be structured as a show something like a high-tech version of “This Old House”.

Season 1

#1: Welcome to the SuperHouse

• SuperHouse introduction
• Montage of future topics
• Demo of RFID door
• Demo of mobile phone control of blinds
• Field trip: Clipsal training house, Clifton Hill
• SMS letterbox notification project
• Tour of the website highlighting detailed instructions for letterbox hack

#2: Wiring Your World

• Introduction to smart wiring: X10/A10, CeBUS, Dynalite
• Internet access options: DSL, cable, 3G, wireless
• Setting up a router / firewall
• Field trip: Tasmanian house fitted with CeBUS cabling
• Building a stud wall
• Installing a LAN/WLAN
• Community wireless

#3: The Ultimate Garage

• Building a steel-frame garage
• Driveway detectors: magnetic and infra-red
• Painting interior walls and trim
• Field trip: Dad’s place to talk about building envelope etc
• Recharge station for EV
• Extraction fan for exhaust (auto-start car)
• Hanging plasterboard
• Wall insulation
• Low power / efficient lighting options

#4: Front Door and Access Control

• Hanging a front door
• Fitting electric striker plates
• RFID access control
• Keypad access control
• Fingerprint scanner access control
• Facial recognition access control
• Field trip: Brisbane airport access control system?
• Doorbell notification / video surveillance

#5: Pets, Sensors, and Storage

• Building a built-in cupboard
• Installing an intelligent cat/dog door
• Field trip: R&D: robotic fish, other robot pets?
• Using temperature, humidity, smoke, CO, and gas sensors
• Humidity-controlled bathroom and fans

#6: Walls (this ep is very weak, need to find more)

• Plasterboard: hanging, finishing, painting
• Cornices, corners, architraves, skirting boards
• Field trip: South Korea: grass house and Ubiquitous Dream Hall
• Introduction to Arduino

#7: The Ultimate Home Office

• Door, desk, drawers, storage
• Connecting up your computer and printer
• Field trip: multi-location, maybe Jason Smith’s home office + another
• Sharing peripherals (printer, scanner, etc)
• Multi-line phone, VoIP
• Video conferencing
• Home server
• Online apps: Google docs, etc
• Mobile devices: smartphones and synchronization

#8: Roofs, Water, and Solar

• Replacing a tile roof with steel
• Installing a water tank
• Connecting tank depth sensors to the HA system
• Connecting hot water system to the HA system
• Field trip: R&D: solar cells
• Installing solar panels and a reverse-reading meter
• Installing solar hot water boosting
• Roof insulation options

Season 2

#1: Floors

• Floor and wall tiling
• Fixing a squeeky floor
• Floor polishing
• ?
• ?

#2: Fencing

• Building a picket fence
• ?
• ?
• ?

#3: Saving Water

• Installing a water tank and rainwater collection system
• Connecting depth sensors and pumps to the computer
• Greywater: collection, purification, storage, use (legislation)

#4: Garden irrigation and lighting

• Computer controlled sprinkler system
• Installing garden lighting

#5: Video from everywhere

• CCTV systems
• Building a deck or verandah
• Doorbell notification

#6: High-tech driveway

• Installing electric driveway gates
• Fitting a car sensor
• CCTV feed to your car

#7: External walls

• Replacing weatherboards
• Rendering a brick wall
• Exterior painting

#8: Heating and cooling

• Installing central evaporative cooling
• Installing central heating
• Smart thermostat

Season 3

#1: Fireplace

• Installing a gas fireplace
• Connecting a gas fireplace to the computer

#2: Security

• Using the house computer as a security system
• Installing external security lighting
• SMS notification
• Dialler
• Connecting motion detectors
• Connecting smoke detectors

#3: Home entertainment

• Installing a wall-mount flat-screen TV
• Building a home media PC with MythTV
• CCTV feeds to MythTV

#4: Control from anywhere

• Building a house-wide audio system
• Setting up a web interface for the house computer
• Using a phone / iPod as a house controller
• Connecting your house to virtual reality (Second Life?)

#5: Phones

• Setting up a VoIP phone system with Asterisk
• Connecting Asterisk to MythTV

#6: Curtains and blinds

• Installing electric curtains and blinds
• Linking curtains / blinds to the computer

#7: (Topic to be determined)

• Linking an endless hot water system to the computer
• Computer controlled water feature
• The ultimate cubby house: VoIP
• Voice control
• Swimming pool management

#8: Grand Finale

• “Live” show from the SuperHouse
• House tour showing everything in place
• Giveaway / prize draw for the crowd
• Auction the house live on TV? Mmm, tempting!