ORBSOpen Room Behaviour Standard
Choose what each room should do from a ready-made set of cards. From that choice, everyone knows the devices to install, the job can be priced early, and handover has a test for every behaviour.
Bathroom
- Walk in at night: lights come on low
- Shower running: fan on, then off after 15 min
- Water on the floor: alert to the owner
- Window open in rain: alert
3 chosen · 3 testsExample
- Document
- ORBS, Open Room Behaviour Standard
- Version
- Draft 0.3.0
- Status
- Closed review. The Working Committee approves each reviewer.
- Written for
- Owners, operators, designers and integrators
- Covers
- 118 room types, 632 behaviours
Same room, two briefs
Most briefs list products. ORBS describes what the room does, the devices that needs, and how to test it. Pick a room to compare.
Bathroom
- Smart lighting with sensors.On when? How bright at 2 am?
- Exhaust fan automated.Runs for how long after a shower?
- Integrated with the rest of the house.Meaning what, exactly?
No device list, no price you can trust, and no test. “Done” is whoever’s opinion wins at handover.
Bathroom
| When | The room | Needs | Test at handover |
|---|---|---|---|
| Someone walks in at night | Lights come on low, not full | Presence sensor, Dimmable lights | Walk in at 2 am. Lights reach the night level. |
| The shower runs or the air is humid | Fan on, and keeps running 15 minutes after | Humidity sensor, Switched exhaust fan | Run the shower for 5 minutes. Fan stops 15 minutes later. |
| Water on the floor | An alert goes to the owner’s phone | Leak sensor | Wet the leak sensor. The alert arrives. |
- Devices to plan
- Presence sensor · Dimmable lights · Humidity sensor · Switched exhaust fan · Leak sensor
- Ready to price
- 5 device types, known now
- Handover
- 3 tests, agreed before the work starts
These example lines were written for this page. The draft’s own cards are open to approved reviewers.
Sleep and rest room
- Lighting and air conditioning in the sleep room.Kept in what range while children sleep?
- Sensors to monitor the room.Monitoring what? Who is told, and how fast?
- Automated blinds.Dark enough to sleep, light enough to check on them?
No device list, no price you can trust, and no test. “Done” is whoever’s opinion wins at handover.
Sleep and rest room
| When | The room | Needs | Test at handover |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rest time starts | Blinds close to a dim level educators can still see by, and the air is held in its set range | Motorised blinds, Room temperature sensor, Air con control | Start rest time. Blinds close to the dim level and the temperature stays in range. |
| The room drifts out of its temperature range | The educator on duty is told within a minute | Room temperature sensor, Staff alerts | Warm the sensor past the limit. The alert arrives within a minute. |
| An educator does a sleep check | A low check light comes on, never the main lights | Dimmable lights, Check button | Press the check button. Only the low light comes on. |
- Devices to plan
- Motorised blinds · Room temperature sensor · Air con control · Staff alerts · Dimmable lights · Check button
- Ready to price
- 6 device types, known now
- Handover
- 3 tests, agreed before the work starts
These example lines were written for this page. The draft’s own cards are open to approved reviewers. Nothing in a card replaces educators’ in-person checks and supervision.
Guest room
- Keycard energy saving.What turns off, and what must stay on?
- Smart climate control.And when the room is unsold?
- Do Not Disturb integration.Integrated with what? Who sees it?
No device list, no price you can trust, and no test. “Done” is whoever’s opinion wins at handover.
Guest room
| When | The room | Needs | Test at handover |
|---|---|---|---|
| A guest checks in | The room is brought to comfort before they arrive | Booking system link, Air con control | Check in a test booking. The room reaches comfort before arrival. |
| The keycard is removed | After a short wait, lights and TV off and air con to standby; the minibar stays on | Keycard switch, Switched lighting and outlets | Remove the card. All of it is off within a minute; the minibar is still on. |
| The guest sets Do Not Disturb | Door light on, housekeeping list updated, doorbell silenced | Room keypad, Door indicator | Press Do Not Disturb. The door light is on and housekeeping sees it. |
- Devices to plan
- Booking system link · Air con control · Keycard switch · Switched lighting and outlets · Room keypad · Door indicator
- Ready to price
- 6 device types, known now
- Handover
- 3 tests, agreed before the work starts
These example lines were written for this page. The draft’s own cards are open to approved reviewers.
What starting from cards gives a project
- 1Choose the behaviours
The owner chooses what each room should do from the cards for that type of room. Nobody has to imagine it from scratch.
- 2Know the devices
Every behaviour lists the devices it needs. Tick the behaviours and you have the device list for the job, so the integrator knows what to plan, wire and order.
- 3Price it early
With the behaviours and devices known, the job can be priced before design is finished. The scope is clear and the budget is set early, not discovered late.
- 4Test at handover
Every behaviour has its own test. Handover is a checklist that passes, so gaps are found before the client moves in, not after.
A different way to design, build and hand over
Today most smart homes and buildings are designed job by job, from each integrator’s own experience. ORBS gives every project the same starting point. That means less rework, a budget the owner can plan around, and an integrator whose job is to build and prove what was agreed, not to carry the gaps in the brief.
| Topic | Designed from scratch each time | Starting from ORBS |
|---|---|---|
| What each room does | Depends on what the owner can imagine and what the integrator has done before | Chosen from the cards for that type of room |
| Devices | Worked out as the design goes, often changed on site | Listed by every behaviour chosen |
| Price | Firm late, with allowances and variations | Estimated early, from a known scope |
| Handover | A walk-through and opinions | A test for every behaviour |
| Rework | Found at handover, or after move-in | Caught in the brief, before anything is installed |
| The integrator | Carries the gaps in the brief | Builds and proves what was agreed |
Where the cards come from
The behaviours are not one integrator’s preferences. They come from years of designing, installing and fixing smart homes and buildings, from analysing how many real installations were set up and how they behave in use, and from the rules that apply to buildings. Each card asks two questions about its room: how can the technology help the people who run the building day to day, and how can it make life better for the people who use it?
- Experience
- Years of work on smart homes and buildings, including what went wrong and had to be fixed.
- Analysis
- How many real installations were set up, and how they behave once people live and work in them.
- Regulations
- The rules that apply, such as the National Construction Code and the regulations for early-learning centres.
- Review
- Practising integrators, consultants, designers and operators review every draft before it is released.
What draft 0.3.0 covers
| Building type | Cards | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Homes and villas | 36 room types | Draft for review |
| Early-learning centres | 25 room types | Draft, under safety review |
| Apartments and flats | The whole apartment and 10 common areas. Rooms inside use the home cards. | Early draft, being reviewed |
| Hotels | 25 room types. A boutique hotel uses 10 of them. | Early draft, being reviewed |
| Offices | 22 room types | Early draft, being reviewed |
Alongside the cards, a specification sets how behaviours rank against each other, what motion and presence sensors can and can’t detect, and how rooms group into areas such as a granny flat or an apartment.
How to take part
- 1Review the terms and ask for access
Read the short, plain-English review terms, then tell us your name and firm and tick what you are interested as. The terms ask you to keep the draft to yourself until it is published, and your comments are contributed to ORBS to improve it.
- 2Approval by the Working Committee
The ORBS Working Committee looks at every request and checks for new ones regularly. If yours is approved, you will get a personal link by email.
- 3Read and comment
Leave a comment next to any part of the draft, then send them in one go. Every comment gets an answer before the next version, and we will credit you by name if you would like.
Background
- Status
- A draft for review. No standards body or industry association has adopted it, and no organisation has endorsed it.
- History
- Casient Pro started work on room behaviour cards in August 2026, when they were called Aether cards. Draft 0.1 followed in October 2026, and the name ORBS in November.
- Who runs it
- Casient Pro (Casient Pty Ltd), in Sydney. Casient Pro also makes building control products, which is why the cards describe types of device and never name brands. We are inviting industry groups and practising firms to join as founding members.
- Licence
- Not decided yet. The plan is an open licence for the cards and their data format, chosen before publication. Until then the draft is not licensed for use.
- Other standards
- ORBS works alongside room automation standards such as VDI 3813 and EN ISO 52120-1, and does not replace them. Fire, emergency lighting and gas systems keep their own standards; the cards respond to them and never control them.
Review draft 0.3.0
Review the terms and ask for access. The Working Committee looks at requests regularly, and approved reviewers get a personal link by email.