“Hey Alexa—Turn the Lights Down”. How Philips Lighting Turned a Bright Idea into Reality

Ever since a particularly risky venture that included a kite, a key, a flash of lightning and Ben Franklin, the light bulb hasn’t seen much disruption—screw it in, flip the switch and boom. That’s that.

But the team at Philips Lighting isn’t settling for the status quo. The world’s leading lighting company recently teamed up with Amazon’s Alexa to add some amazing new features to its Hue wireless system and further improve how we light our lives. The result?  The ability to use Philips’ smart lights to get total control of the lighting in your home. And when we say total control, we mean it. You can even sync your lights to music!   

Want to be a part of the Philips Lighting revolution? Read on.

It all Started with a Bright Idea

Nowadays, there’s an app for [almost] everything, from ordering food to getting a ride. The game-changing team at Philips Lighting saw this as a huge opportunity to take control of the ways we brighten, dim and darken our homes. It was the perfect challenge for an innovative team that’s always several steps ahead when it comes to technology. And it played perfectly into the company’s move toward connecting people’s everyday lives through the internet of things (or IoT). Now, engineers, developers and data scientists are taking on the amazing challenge of making lighting more connected and customizable. And they’re looking for equally innovative people to join them.

Here’s an insider’s look at how Philips Lighting is changing the lighting game, and what you could be a part of if you join this bright team.

Tech Worth Talking About

For years, Philips Lighting has been working on LED lighting that’s greener and lasts longer. Now, they’ve gone beyond the bulbs themselves with Hue, giving people the power to control lighting for entire rooms at a time or even set lights to match their daily routines. It’s all powered by a Wi-Fi enabled gadget called The Bridge, which lets anyone add up to 50 lights and lighting accessories that they can customize to their heart’s content. That means all it takes is your voice (and an Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit or Google Assistant) to make your home smarter. Here’s what else this amazing tech lets you do:

• Set geolocation so your lights turn off when you leave your house or turn on when you’re getting home.
• Wake up feeling more refreshed by setting lights to brighten slowly until it’s time to get out of bed.
• Set the scene by matching the colors from any picture, or dim the lights to perfectly match Friday movie night.
• Sync to other devices to set the right temperature, act as a security system or even send you an alert if there’s smoke in the house.

Behind the Scenes with Hue

It took a lot of work to make Philips Hue so simple to navigate. Engineering and developer teams around the world worked together to make in-home, wireless lighting a possibility. To do it, they needed to overcome a lot of challenges, including making sure the system was compatible with how people around the world light their homes, and that the app was always easy to operate.

One of the biggest challenges they overcame? Accounting for all the different types of lighting installations people have in their homes. After all, it wasn’t exactly realistic to have people act as DIY electricians and rework the lighting in their homes! So engineers created a fitted receiver for Hue that enables any lighting fixture to connect to the app. Problem smartly solved.

Another challenge? Creating the ideal app to tie it all together. Mission: accomplished. After all, this approach to disrupting lighting is what drives everyone at Philips Lighting to keep creating new, exciting and innovative technology. Best of all, even though they’re making big waves when it comes to connected devices, the team at Philips Lighting is only getting started.

Ready to join them in creating the future of lighting? Head on over to WayUp now to check out open positions, including Space Optimization Data Intern, R&D Social Media Intern and Machine Learning Intern.