It’s a strange but powerful little orb that can control more than 30,000 devices, and it’s coming to the United States in 2018. It’s called Homey and the world market can experience it for themselves at CES.
Like many of its competitors, Homey seeks to be all things to all customers. It’s essentially a smart home hub designed to interface wirelessly and seamlessly with a surprising diversity of products including entertainment systems, light and temperature controls, security systems and more. The product supports thousands of smart home products, and Homey has successfully integrated its platform with products from well-known smart home brands like Sony, Belkin, Hue, Sonos, and Nest.
Homey works on the Android model, offering developers an open platform through the Homey app store. Users control their devices through the Homey app, which is also integrated with Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Facebook Messenger. Like Alexa’s “commands,” Homey uses automation commands called “Homey Flows” to automate processes like lights, locks, and other smart home functions. The orb currently runs on an ARMv7 CPU with four gigabytes of flash storage and 512 megabytes of RAM, all running on 10W peak power.
In addition to major home automation protocols like Z-Wave, Zigbee, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi; Homey also supports things like NFC, nrf24l01+, and infrared — so it can be used to control your regular TV, non-networked sound system, and even your computer. It features eight wireless technologies, all working in sync with dozens of protocols simultaneously.
Homey is currently powering smart homes across Europe and has won several awards including a Phillips Innovation Award, an Accenture Innovation Award, and placed first in the EIT ICT Labs Idea Challenge in 2014. CES marks Athom’s entry into the international market, where it intends to introduce Homey to new markets in 2018. The first step will be a United States-focused version of Homey, complete with a connector to match this region’s power supply. The company’s internationalization strategy also includes extended language support that will be added throughout 2018.
Homey’s owner is a Dutch company called Athom, founded by Emile Nijssen and Stefan Witkamp in 2014. The team launched the product with a Kickstarter campaign in May 2014.
