The remote home: there are now many ways to monitor kids and home from afar

Anyone remember Rosie, the robotic housekeeper who petered around "The Jetsons" in the 1960s?

“I swear on my mother's rechargeable batteries,” she once joked, when asked by Judy Jetson to keep a secret.

While we’re still a few years away from a domesticated humanoid robot that can wash our dishes and make our beds, today’s smart home products are designed to make your living space safer, more energy efficient, and easier to maintain.

The following is a look at a few smart ways to bump up your home’s I.Q.

Temp work

The maker of the first smart thermostat (in 2007) is back with an even more affordable model. At $169, ecobee3 lite costs about $80 less than the competition, yet still pays for itself in as little as one year. Along with easily adjusting temperature and comfort settings from the iOS or Android app (or via the thermostat’s 3.5-inch touchscreen), ecobee3 lite can be easily programmed to fit your schedule. Get free monthly reports on how much energy you've saved, along with tips on how to save even more, plus this Wi-Fi thermostat also integrates nicely with smart home platforms like Amazon Echo, Apple HomeKit, Samsung SmartThings, and IFTTT. ecobee3 lite is available on October 31.

Ping me

Wi-Fi-enabled video cameras in the home might be old news, but the Vivint Ping camera is the first two-way talk camera with one-touch call-out. For example, children can press a button on the camera to let mom know they’re home from school. Or dad or could ping the camera from his smartphone to make sure the kids fed the dog. The small HD camera offers a wide 155-degree field of view and an LED ring for dimly-lit rooms, while multiple microphones allows for clear, two-way conversations. You can customize alerts for when the camera detects motion, while cloud-stored video clips can be accessed on-demand. The Vivint Ping indoor camera is available as part of a Vivint smart home system, with monthly pricing starting at $59.99.

Park place

Turn your existing garage into a smart garage. That’s premise behind Chamberlain’s MyQ Garage ($129.99), which lets you know if you’ve left the garage door open – and close it, if desired – from anywhere in the world. The free smartphone app also lets you open it remotely to allow someone access to borrow a tool or drop off a package, or you can set up custom alerts, such as a notification when your kids come home after school or if you left garage door open for a specific period of time. The MyQ Garage can be installed in less than 30 minutes, works with your existing Wi-Fi network, and easily connects to most existing garage door openers.

Bright idea

Not only do LED light bulbs consumer a lot less power than incandescent bulbs, and last considerably longer, smart LED bulbs like the Philips hue family let you manage your lights through an app, be it to change its color on demand (from 16 million colors), dim or brighten a room, set up timers and other scheduling options, or remotely access your lights from wherever life takes you. The Philips hue LED White and Color Ambiance Starter Kit ($179.99) includes a wireless bridge that allows you to control up to 50 hue devices and includes 3 LED bulbs to get you started. These bulbs also work with many popular smart home platforms.

Super suction

The result of $56 million worth of research and development by a team of more than 200 engineers, the Dyson 360 Eye ($999.99) is set out to reinvent the robotic vacuum space. Powered by an energy-efficient digital motor spinning at up to 78,000 rotations per minute, the Dyson 360 Eye generates twice the suction of any robot vacuum, says the company, coupled with proprietary “cyclone” technology to effectively separate dust and dirt. As the name suggests, this robot’s 360-degree “eye” camera is used to navigate your home and make decisions based on what it sees. Of course there’s an app, too, to start, pause and stop their robot, schedule jobs, and view maps and stats.

Wet woes

You’re not alone if you’re concerned about water damage and the havoc it can wreak – this is especially true for those who own a secondary residence, such as a cabin or cottage, a winter home down south, or perhaps a rental property. Whether or not you’ve had a prior issue, the D-Link Wi-Fi Water Sensor ($49.99) plugs into an open power outlet – perhaps in the basement, under a basement window, near an old water heater or washing machine -- and lets you know if and when leaks are detected. If there’s an issue, you’ll get a text notification or an alert on the mydlink Home smartphone app. There are no monthly monitoring costs as it joins on your existing Wi-Fi connection.

Follow Marc on Twitter: @marc_saltzman. E-mail him at askmarcsaltzman@gmail.com.