First of all, the concept of intelligence is not a scientific term. People collectively refer to abilities that have some or all of the characteristics of intelligence as intelligence. Human intelligence is mainly manifested in the process of perception, thinking, judgment, learning, and execution.

If the human intelligence characteristic ability is carried on a certain household appliance, so as to partially or completely replace people to accomplish certain things, or accomplish things that humans cannot accomplish, such household appliances can be called smart household appliances. Therefore, a product that has the ability to perceive and understand, the ability to think correctly, the ability to make accurate judgments and the ability to execute effectively, and to make comprehensive use of all these abilities is what we call smart home appliances.

In fact, smart home appliances are not mysterious at all. Looking back at the early thermostats for electric irons and rice cookers, they actually have the characteristics of intelligence. But at that time, the characteristics of intelligence were relatively low, and the concept of intelligence was not formed. With the development of sensor technology, chip technology, RFID technology, and network technology, smart home appliances in the true sense have begun to enter our lives.

Smart home appliances are home appliances formed by introducing microprocessor, sensor technology, and network communication technology into home appliances. They can automatically perceive the status of the residential space, the status of the home appliances, and the service status of the home appliances, and can automatically control and receive residential users in the house or remotely. At the same time, as a component of smart home, smart home appliances can be interconnected with other home appliances, homes, and facilities in the house to form a system to realize smart home functions.

The difference between smart home appliances and traditional home appliances

The difference between smart home appliances and traditional home appliances cannot be distinguished simply by whether the operating system is installed and whether the chip is installed. The difference between them is mainly manifested in the expression of the word "intelligence".

The first is that the perception objects are different. The previous home appliances mainly perceive time and temperature; while smart home appliances can perceive human emotions, human actions, and human behavior habits, and they can do some intelligent execution according to this perception. The second is that the technical processing methods are different. Traditional home appliances are more mechanical, or called a very simple execution process. The operation of smart home appliances often relies on the application and processing of modern technologies such as the Internet of Things, the Internet, and electronic chips. Finally, the needs are different. The corresponding needs of traditional home appliances are to meet some basic needs in life, while the consumption needs of smart home appliances are more abundant and higher.

Therefore, the difference between smart home appliances and traditional home appliances is that smart home appliances achieve anthropomorphic intelligence. Products capture and process information through sensors and control chips. In addition to automatic setting and control according to the residential space environment and user needs, users can personalize according to their own habits. In addition, when smart home appliances are connected to the Internet, they also have the attributes of a social network. In addition, smart home appliances can also be understood as IoT home appliances.

The rapid development of smart home appliances has become an inevitable trend, and the main reasons for its rapid development are as follows:
(1) The maturity and wide application of network technology and communication technology.
(2) The continuous improvement of the level of informatization has gradually reached the level of supporting the large-scale development of the smart home appliance industry.
(3) Internet infrastructure and technical conditions have made necessary preparations for the development of smart home appliances.
(4) The user's demand for high-level home appliances.

Features and functions of smart home appliances and traditional home appliances

Compared with traditional home appliances, smart home appliances have the following characteristics:

1 Networking function. Various smart home appliances can be connected through the home LAN, and can also be connected to the manufacturer's service site through the home gateway interface, and finally can be connected to the Internet to realize information sharing. 

2 Intelligent. Smart home appliances can respond automatically according to the surrounding environment, without human intervention. For example, smart air conditioners can automatically adjust their working status to achieve the best results according to different seasons, climates and user locations.

3 Openness and compatibility. Since the smart home appliances of the user's home may come from different manufacturers, the smart home appliance platform must be developed and compatible.

4 Energy saving. Smart home appliances can automatically adjust working hours and working status according to the surrounding environment, thereby realizing energy saving.

5 Ease of use. Since the complicated control operation process has been solved by the controller embedded in the smart home appliance, the user only needs to understand the very simple operation. Smart home appliances do not just refer to a certain home appliance, but should be a technical system. With the continuous development of human application requirements and home appliance intelligence, its content will be richer, and the functions of smart home appliances will also have different functions according to the actual application environment. The difference, but generally should have the following basic functions:

(1) Communication function. Including telephone, network, remote control/alarm, etc.
(2) Intelligent control of consumer electronic products. For example, a microwave oven that can automatically control heating time and heating temperature, a smart air conditioner that can automatically adjust temperature and humidity, a TV/VCR that can automatically search for and record TV programs according to instructions, and so on.
(3) Interactive intelligent control. The voice control function of smart home appliances can be realized through voice recognition technology; the active action response of smart home appliances can be realized through various active sensors (such as temperature, sound, motion, etc.). Users can also define different responses of different smart appliances in different scenarios.
(4) Security control function. Including access control system, automatic fire alarm, gas leakage, electricity leakage, water leakage, etc.
(5) Health and medical functions. Including health equipment monitoring, remote diagnosis and treatment, elderly/patient abnormal monitoring, etc.
The rapid development of intelligent control technology and information technology also provides the possibility for home appliance automation and intelligence. Smart home appliances have the functions of automatic monitoring of their own faults, automatic measurement, automatic control, automatic adjustment, and communication with the remote control center.

Traditional household appliances include air conditioners, refrigerators, vacuum cleaners, rice cookers, washing machines, etc., and new household appliances include induction cookers, disinfection cupboards, steaming and stewing pots, etc. Whether new household appliances or traditional household appliances, the overall technology is constantly improving. The key to the advancement of household appliances lies in the adoption of advanced control technology, so that household appliances have changed from a mechanical appliance to an intelligent device. Smart household appliances reflect the latest technology of household appliances.