Putting the Smart Sprinkler in the Cloud

When discussing the Rachio smart controller, we often say that we’ve taken the brains of the sprinkler controller and placed them in the cloud. This approach allows us to constantly develop and evolve the controller, with intelligence exceeding commercial offerings costing thousands (or even tens of thousands) of dollars. In addition, this allows our users (you!) to view and manage your device(s) from anywhere in the world.

Software folks like to throw around the term “cloud” pretty loosely, but what does it actually mean? According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology:

Cloud computing is a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.

Ok… how about something a little easier to understand?

...cloud computing means storing and accessing data and programs over the Internet instead of your computer's hard drive (PC Mag).

In other words, the cloud is about remote storage of data versus local storage. A few examples demonstrating this include:

• In real-time, seeing which zones are running, and how much water is being used/saved from your phone or desktop.
• Receiving a notification that a schedule has been skipped versus turning off your controller manually when it rains.
• Switching weather stations on-the-fly via your phone versus installing expensive on-site weather stations or rain gauges.
• Providing your landscaper with shared access to the app versus staying home from work to let them in the garage.

All of this is possible because of the cloud, and we're always looking for ways in which we can develop new features from this functionality.