The option to use hand held controls for lighting is a step closer to the complete computer controlled house. It is almost certain that the control of all internal services in the house will become automatic over the next 50 years, and it is quite likely that the control of the services will give a substantial boost to the suppliers and designers of such systems. The lighting systems can now be controlled fully from your arm chair and it is quite usual to also fit in the control of the window blinds or curtains on the same system.

The hand held controller can simply change the lighting levels at any time, and in any part of the room either on an individual lamp basis or on a preset setting where all the lights change at the same time. This enables lighting levels to be adjusted as the needs require for example either reading with high lighting levels or television watching on low level lighting.

It can also be used as an artistic scene changer to change the mood of the room. It can focus lighting on set objects or it can set a lighting display that gives a focal point for the room. Basically what was originally done by creating focal points with furniture or fireplaces or similar items, can now also be done by light. The whole atmosphere of the room can be changed by changing lighting levels and even colours within lamps to give mood changes and either more vibrant or more relaxing atmospheres. This can also be put on to an automatic mode where the light adapts to a constant level and raises or lowers according to the outside ambient light.

The hand held controller can also be adapted to use the IR sensors to start the system the minute somebody moves into the room, or you can switch on rooms in a multi room mode. The bedroom can be lit from the lounge before entry. The systems that fix this to act with the shutting of the room blinds and screens then become an obvious addition, so that the bedroom blinds or curtains can be closed prior to the lights being lit. In the morning the lights can be put on or the blinds and curtains raised prior to getting up.

The systems sound like a lazy mans dream but they do have a number of safety advantages especially for the elderly, and they do save energy.