I Just wanted to add my two cents in to this thread.
I just used this method to effectively control one of my greenhouse’s irrigation booms. It’s an older model where it’s basically power on/off to control movement and the water solenoids. The RIB now lets me control the outlet that it plugs into and since I know how long each pass takes, the run time determines how much water my crop gets. Pretty simple once you know which wires go where. 😀
I wouldn’t recommend this to control something like your kitchen blender, but with the right wiring knowledge certain things can easily be automated.