Opto 22 engineer Ben Orchard is just like a lot of us—he can't resist tinkering with controls whether he's at work or at home.

So of course he's automated his home: sprinklers (key item in a hot area like Temecula that gets little rainfall), Philips hue lights (atmosphere!), and WeMo electrical outlet switches (safety, convenience).

Ben's got them all set up so he and his family can monitor and control all these from the computer in the kitchen or from smartphones and tablets anywhere. And everything's managed in the same operator interface, which works on any brand PC or mobile device because it runs in a modern web browser like Firefox or Chrome or IE10.

What's Ben using?

• An Opto 22 SNAP PAC I/O rack that everything's connected to
• A SoftPAC software-based programmable automation controller
• groov for building and viewing the interface

Watch the new groovHeads videos and see how it's done:

Sprinkler automation
Belkin WeMo automation

All logos and product names used herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies or organizations. groov is a product from Opto 22 and is not related to nor endorsed by Belkin or Philips.