10 Best Home Automation Courses and Certifications Online

Home Automation has been gaining popularity in recent years due to the convenience and efficiency it offers in managing household appliances and systems. As technology continues to advance, homeowners are seeking ways to integrate automation into their homes. With the increasing demand for Home Automation, many online courses have emerged, offering comprehensive training for those interested in learning more about this field. In this article, we will explore some of the best Home Automation courses available online, highlighting their features and benefits.

Here’s a look at the Best Home Automation Courses and Certifications Online and what they have to offer for you!

10 Best Home Automation Courses and Certifications Online

1. Make a Living as a Smart Home Automation & IoT Installer by Gerard ODriscoll (Udemy) (Our Best Pick)

The Make a Living as a Smart Home Automation & IoT Installer Course is a comprehensive video training program that helps individuals with no prior knowledge on smart home automation & Internet of Things (IoT) installation to set up and launch their own business. The course is designed to help existing electrical contractors, security business owners, and DIY enthusiasts who want to build a smart home installation business on the side.

The course provides participants with the technical foundation to start installing various types of smart home systems through a series of HD videos. It also includes practical how-to videos on how to build a smart home system from scratch using the Samsung SmartThings range of products, step-by-step videos on how to install and set up the Nest suite of smart IoT devices, and instructional videos on how to set up Apple HomeKit smart home products.

In addition, the course offers guidance on how to start a smart install business, establish a brand and online presence, and launch the business successfully. The course also covers topics such as advising clients on how to wire their smart home, retrofit solutions, smart cameras, lighting control, smart alarm systems, smart thermostats, multi-room music systems, and smart entertainment installations.

According to data from Parks Associates, the smart home automation install services market is expected to grow significantly in the next five years. The course offers a big opportunity for skilled individuals to take advantage of the upcoming wave of business.

The program includes over 100 videos, quizzes, and interviews with industry experts. The latest course update, on November 2016, includes new lectures on the Apple HomeKit home automation system. By joining the course, participants can increase their monthly revenue stream from installing Internet of Things (IoT) and smart home products.

2. G4 – Smart home Tutorials. by Ahmed Elnhas (Udemy)

Course Title: G4 – Smart Home Tutorials

This course offers an opportunity for learners to explore the world of Smart Home systems. Whether you are looking to enhance your skills, grow your career or start your own business, this course is for you.

The course starts with an overview of the Smart Home system and its components. Learners will discover how to control lighting, air conditioning, curtains, sound systems, TVs, and other appliances. They will also learn how to manage security, energy, and luxury in a Smart Home.

The course centers on designing a Smart Home, device selection, installation, programming, and mobile app configuration. The course is divided into sections ranging from introduction to mobile app configuration.

The course is suitable for anyone interested in Smart Home systems, from beginners to experts. Upon completion, learners will have gained valuable skills in designing, installing, and configuring Smart Home systems. They will also be able to manage energy and security, among other features, from their mobile devices.

3. Home Automation For Beginners: Create Your Own Smart Home by Gerard ODriscoll (Udemy)

The Home Automation for Beginners course, instructed by Gerard O’Driscoll, aims to teach participants how to build a smart home automation system from scratch. The course promises to prevent confusion and wasted money while enhancing security, safety, and enjoyment levels for families.

Smart home automation has several everyday applications, such as remotely viewing your home via an IP camera, arming your alarm, and adjusting lights and thermostats via a mobile app. The course offers to teach participants how to save money by reducing energy consumption, creating a comfortable family environment, and protecting homes against intruders.

The course addresses the common problem of individuals purchasing varied smart home devices from different manufacturers that cannot communicate with each other. O’Driscoll, an international smart home automation expert, offers a comprehensive course that takes participants through the process of creating a smooth and effective home automation system from A-to-Z.

Enrolling in the course can save participants the frustration of wasted money and hours of guesswork. The course content covers smart home hub installation and configuration, adding smart window and door contacts to homes, enhancing security levels with a siren, using smart cameras to increase family security levels, configuring security alarms on an app, and enhancing safety levels against fire, CO gas, leaks, and water damage.

Additionally, the course covers smart light bulbs and outlets, using smart thermostats to save money, adding whole house music to a smart home, and using simple automation to make life easier and more efficient. Bonuses are also included.

Overall, the Home Automation for Beginners course aims to provide comprehensive instruction on IoT and smart home automation and enable participants to build their own smart home system that delivers benefits such as improved family security, safety, and energy-saving.

4. Automation with Raspberry Pi Zero by Venkatesh Varadachari, Satyajeet Sah (Udemy)

The Automation with Raspberry Pi Zero course is aimed at those with intermediate coding skills. The course has been designed to explore the possibilities of the newly launched Raspberry Pi Zero. The course is taught by Venkatesh Varadachari and Satyajeet Sah.

The course begins with teaching how to program a small LCD screen and display dynamic data. Further, it covers how to control any AC appliances using a relay and Python programming. The course includes two complete projects, providing solutions to real-time problems.

The first project teaches how to automate the process of turning the water pump on and off, which eliminates the daily manual effort. The second project demonstrates how to automatically water plants when the moisture level is low using Raspberry Pi Zero.

The course provides complete source code for the real-time project, and hardware assembly and coding in Python programming can be completed over a fortnight. The course ends by providing fundamental knowledge about automating things using Raspberry Pi Zero and controlling physical things with the mini kit.

In conclusion, this course is an excellent opportunity to learn how to automate a water pump and plant watering using Raspberry Pi Zero, taking your intermediate coding skills to the next level. Enroll now to broaden your knowledge and skills in this area.

5. Advanced Home Automation using Raspberry Pi 3 by Venkatesh Varadachari, Satyajeet Sah, Venkatesh Gopalakrishnan (Udemy)

The Advanced Home Automation using Raspberry Pi 3 course, instructed by Venkatesh Varadachari, Satyajeet Sah, and Venkatesh Gopalakrishnan, focuses on mastering technologies such as ESP8266 and OpenHAB to build innovative home automation gadgets. This course is recommended for learners with basic knowledge of Raspberry Pi, Linux commands, and electronic circuit connections, but it is suggested to take the previous courses on “Introduction to Raspberry Pi” and “Home Automation using Raspberry Pi” before subscribing.

The course exposes the learner to cutting-edge technologies in the Internet of Things and Home Automation. ESP8266, a chip that connects sensors to Wifi, allows the learner to remotely connect to all sensors and output devices using a single Raspberry Pi. The open-source home automation platform, OpenHAB, provides a user interface for home automation devices, eliminating the need for web servers and individual interfaces for each device.

The course includes creating a Remote Temperature and Humidity Measurement System to know the temperature and humidity of remote locations in the house using a smartphone. Additionally, learners will build a Letter Box Alert System that tracks letter arrival in their postboxes. The course explains how to customize the system for personal use and provides complete Linux commands and OpenHAB configuration files for easy replication.

Upon completion of the course, learners will be able to build innovative home automation systems using open-source technologies such as ESP8266 and OpenHAB.

6. Learn Step-by-Step How to Build a Smart Home System by Gerard ODriscoll (Udemy)

The Learn Step-by-Step How to Build a Smart Home System course, led by instructor Gerard ODriscoll, aims to teach individuals how to use their smartphone or tablet to control household systems such as lighting, thermostats, IP cameras, music, and security. The course promises to help create a comfortable living environment while reducing energy consumption and protecting against intruders. The content is presented in an 8-week program of 40 video modules.

The course covers a range of topics, including understanding the failures of HA 1.0 and the benefits and applications of HA 2.0, different types of HA 2.0 smart controllers, essential and ‘nice to have’ home automation functions, structured wiring, wireless home control systems, and Z-Wave network architecture. Additionally, the course covers planning and installation of home automation alarm and fire detection systems, outdoor and IP cameras, access control systems, lighting control systems, energy saving devices, and smart thermostats.

The course also delves into multimedia systems, such as basic and advanced MRM systems, Sonos MRM 2.0 systems, Airplay MRM 2.0 systems, outdoor weatherproof speakers, HDMI equipment, Cat5e, and 6 based HDTV distribution systems, HDBase-T Technologies, wireless HDTV distribution systems, and Powerline HDTV distribution systems. Lastly, the course teaches how to add home cinema functionality to the HA system, including planning and installation of a Wi-Fi to IR system and controlling home cinema equipment using iPads, iPhones, Windows, or Android devices.

Participants of this course have provided positive feedback, with many grateful for the instructor’s assistance and the weekly exercises. Participants found the program helpful in pulling together information about home technologies into one cohesive program. The course content is presented in 40 video modules, covering topics such as choosing a HA 2.

7. Raspberry Pi and Arduino – Go to The Next Level by Edouard Renard (Udemy)

The Raspberry Pi and Arduino – Go to The Next Level course is designed for individuals who have intermediate knowledge of both boards and want to create more complex and powerful projects by combining them. The course instructor, Edouard Renard, takes students from an intermediate level to an advanced level on each board and the combination of both. At the end of the course, students will be able to create their custom projects with Raspberry Pi and Arduino. It is important to note that this course is not for complete beginners.

The course aims to teach students how to combine the strength of both boards by focusing on the “why,” hands-on lessons, step-by-step process, practice, and writing all the code from scratch. The course has received positive reviews from more than 17,000 students in 150 countries, with a rating of 4.5/5. Students will progress through four different parts of the course, including communicating with Serial between Raspberry Pi and Arduino, building the Arduino circuit for the project, discovering new Raspberry Pi functionalities, and completing the Intercom Project.

Throughout the course, students will have access to additional activities to practice what they have learned and link the new knowledge with the previous sections. For the final project, students will design a complete communication protocol and practice on the steps design, which includes planning and organizing their application before writing code. The course also aims to teach students the best practices for creating robust and scalable code for both Arduino and Raspberry Pi.

Students who want to build more complex applications with Raspberry Pi and Arduino are encouraged to enroll in the course. It is important to note that the course is not for individuals who are complete beginners in Arduino or Raspberry Pi. The course includes an introduction, installation steps, four parts, and a conclusion. Students who are not fully satisfied with the course have a 30-day money-back guarantee with no questions asked.

8. Home Automation using Raspberry Pi by Venkatesh Varadachari, Satyajeet Sah, Venkatesh Gopalakrishnan (Udemy)

The “Home Automation using Raspberry Pi” course is designed for individuals interested in creating Home Automation projects using Raspberry Pi. It is not a beginner course and requires a basic knowledge of Raspberry Pi, Linux commands, and basic Python Programming. The course provides detailed explanations of how to build an Intruder Detection System using a PIR motion detector sensor, buzzer, and email system. It also includes creating a database containing the intruder’s image and serves it over a web page using Raspberry Pi as a web server. The course provides complete Python source code and PHP code, making it easy for learners to replicate the system.

The course is divided into individual sections, including Introduction, Intrusion Detection System, Motion Detection Section, Camera Section, Database Creation Section, Email Section, and Webserver Section. Each section is explained in detail to ensure easy understanding. The course also highlights the possible applications and customizations for the system.

Upon completing the course, learners will understand how Raspberry Pi can be used to build home automation projects based on the core concept of “Internet of Things”. With a step-by-step approach, the course provides a real-time demonstration of the Intrusion Detection System and its complete source code.

9. HOME I/O- Bringing Home Automation by Rajvir Singh (Udemy)

The course titled “HOME I/O – Bringing Home Automation” is an educational program that simulates a smart house environment to help individuals learn and improve their skills in home automation, energy efficiency, heat transfer, and more. The software allows users to control a range of devices, from simple ones like a motorized garage door or thermostat, to complex ones like a network that enables centralized control of the entire home.

The course includes high-quality video tutorials that explain how to use Soft PLC Logics to control the Home I/O environment, digital and analog signal manipulation, latching and unlatching operation, studying motion detection, security lock and intruder alert by Soft PLC Logics, and Soft PLC Fundamental Logics. It also provides manuals and other supporting documents.

Home I/O consists of 174 controllable devices and more than 400 I/O points. Users can interact with all the lighting, heating, motorized, intrusion security, and domestic safety devices in one of the three available modes: Wired, Console, and External. The software also allows users to practice centralized control of the house by creating specific scenarios in the Console Mode.

Users can access and control Home I/O through external technologies such as PLC and microcontrollers using Connect I/O. Home I/O also features a simplified model for heat transfer and a real-time representation of how heat transfers between different bodies. Users can learn about energy efficiency by altering the parameters of the house and observing and analyzing the consumption of energy or cost per hour, day, week, and month.

The course content is divided into 11 sections, including an introduction to Home I/O, automation of entrance gate and garden and pool light, automation of the garage and entrance door, control of lights, roller shades, and security alert, energy saving in a temperature controller, and controlling room section A in Home I/O. The course also includes home IO interface with DAQ card experiments and Home I/O activities.

10. Speech recognition based home automation by Venkatesh Varadachari, Satyajeet Sah, Abhishek Vijay (Udemy)

The Speech Recognition Based Home Automation course, led by Venkatesh Varadachari, Satyajeet Sah, and Abhishek Vijay, teaches users how to set up a speech recognition-based home automation system. This system allows for the automatic and remote control of home functions and appliances using speech commands. The course covers basic lighting and ventilation control, as well as the use of a servo motor through speech control.

The course begins by focusing on the user’s personal needs, building a solid foundation for simple speech-controlled automation. Once this foundation is in place, users will learn how to control a servo motor using PWM output from the Raspberry Pi GPIO pin, as well as how to store the motor’s position using python file I/O.

The course shows users how to automate household activities and appliances with speech recognition, using the open-source platform Jasper to develop always-on speech-controlled applications. With Jasper, users can communicate effectively and efficiently with their home automation system, activating and deactivating relay switches to control home appliances without the need for physical exertion.

The course also covers how to modify the Jasper platform to use the Snowboy hotword detection engine for offline speech recognition for keyword detection while retaining Jasper’s always listening feature. By the end of the course, users will have a functional speech recognition-based home automation system and the knowledge to expand their system to control a variety of services and functions, including monitoring and security systems.