HomeRules: A Tangible End-User Programming Interface for Smart Homes

A considerable amount of research has been carried out towards enabling average users to customize their smart homes through trigger-action ("if... then...") programming. However, inhabitants of such smart environments keep having problems understanding, administering, troubleshooting, and deriving benefits from the technologies employed in their homes. By synthesizing a broad body of research on end-user programming in smart homes with observations of commercial products and our own experiences, we provide a set of guidelines for designers of future interfaces and tools. Stemming from them, we present the design and the initial evaluation of HomeRules, a mobile and tangible application for end-user programming in smart homes.