Palms-on with the Mui Board: a picket sensible dwelling controller

One of many enjoyable components of being a tech journalist for over a decade is that often you get to observe a very distinctive gadget go from idea to actuality — and, finally, into your front room. That’s the case with the Mui Board, a wise dwelling controller constructed into a chunk of wooden.

The Mui was first demoed at CES in 2019, and I’ve seen it at a number of exhibits over time, in numerous iterations, all the time with the promise that it would ship soon. Effectively, this yr it did (in restricted portions!), and I lastly bought to strive one out in my front room.

You might name the Mui Board an anti-smart show. A Raspberry Pi-based sensible dwelling controller with Matter help, it’s only a piece of wooden in your wall when not in use. However if you contact its capacitive floor, glowing dot-matrix icons seem, letting you management your music and lighting, set timers, view messages, and entry different data you would possibly use a wise show for.

The thought is that know-how ought to mix into your property — be calm, accessible, and built-in, not jarring or distracting. Mui is a Japanese time period for being in concord with nature, and the system is licensed by the Calm Tech Institute. As somebody surrounded by screens and sensible shows in my dwelling, I’ve long been intrigued by Mui’s different method and was excited to strive it out.

I’ve had the Mui Board second gen in my dwelling for a number of days now, and whereas I haven’t had an opportunity to totally put it by way of its paces, I’ve been impressed by its responsiveness, considerate design, and bold scope.

The second-gen mannequin debuted in 2023 however solely turned accessible for buy earlier this yr on Mui and Indiegogo. At $999 (on sale for $799), the Mui Board nonetheless feels nearer to a superbly realized idea than a mass-market product. It’s arduous to think about many individuals spending a thousand {dollars} on a wise dwelling controller — however for the appropriate individual, it’s undeniably pleasant.

An easier sensible dwelling controller

Created by Japan-based Mui Labs, the Mui Board is available in two colours: pure maple or darkish cherry. I’m testing the maple model and have mounted it on the wall in my front room, simply above my couch.

From there, I can attain up and faucet it to see the time or climate, test what’s enjoying on my Sonos system, management my Hue lights, set a timer, and see the newest headlines from The Verge through a neat RSS feed function.

It’s a easy interface with minimalist icons that supply extra management than you would possibly anticipate at first look. You’ll be able to dim and switch lights on and off (no coloration altering), modify a thermostat’s temperature, mode, and fan velocity, open and shut curtains and locks, and switch sensible plugs on and off. What’s completely different from different sensible dwelling controllers with contact interfaces is that there are not any adverts, no chatty voice assistant, and no vivid, distracting show vying for my consideration.

Out of the field, the Mui Board connects to Wi-Fi and might show the time and climate. You’ll be able to set timers, alarms, and reminders, and ship messages to different Mui boards or the Mui app. It has two small built-in audio system and a microphone for recording messages, and is powered by an included AC adapter.

Touching and drawing on the Mui Board is its finest function. It’s responsive and simple to make use of, and it has some pleasant options. A small cat roams across the board and adjustments path if you faucet it. There’s a piano / drum mode that turns the board right into a music machine, and also you write messages on it by hand, not with a keyboard. It appears like know-how you may play with.

For sensible dwelling management, the Mui Board helps Matter and integrates with Sonos, Philips Hue, LIFX, SwitchBot, Ecobee, and Google Calendar APIs, amongst others, plus a number of Japanese companies, together with Radiko and the Echonet smart home protocol.

Utilizing the pretty easy Mui app, I related the board to my Sonos system, and it displayed the title of the presently enjoying monitor, quantity, and playback controls, and I might skip ahead or again in my playlist.

As a Matter controller, it may arrange and management supported Matter units straight, with out utilizing Amazon, Google, Apple, or related companies. It really works with lighting, plugs, and thermostats, with locks subsequent on the roadmap.

It presently helps Matter over Wi-Fi, with Thread help deliberate. There’s no Thread radio onboard, so that you’ll want a third-party border router. Lighting works finest to date, whereas the opposite classes are still in limited testing.

I efficiently added a Meross Matter Wi-Fi sensible plug on to the board however struggled to pair some Matter units, similar to my Nest thermostat, utilizing Matter’s multi-admin function. I plan to do extra testing right here.

I used to be in a position to join my Hue lighting setup and will activate and off all of the lights or management every individually on the board. It was pretty gradual, nonetheless, in all probability as a result of I’ve a big Hue setup, and it was utilizing the cloud API moderately than an area connection. I actually favored the Veil of Night feature that allows you to draw a line on the board to set a timer that steadily dims the lighting.

Finally, the Mui Board is an enormous button / change for controlling your sensible dwelling, with the advantage of icons to information you to what you’re doing with out a vivid display. As with all icon-based management, it takes a little bit of studying to recollect which icon does what, however you may customise the format to place your most-used controls on the primary display and scroll by way of further screens for extra choices.

Whereas I like the pure, furniture-like really feel, when the board is off, it barely resembles a two-by-four mounted on the wall — as if my husband deserted a DIY undertaking midway by way of. A rounded edge, extra sculptural profile, or small shelf accent would go a good distance towards softening the look. Additionally, there’s the difficulty of what to do with the cable.

I put in the Mui in our front room, however after utilizing it for a number of days, I feel the best place for that is in a bed room, over a bedside desk or headboard. That’s the room most individuals want to preserve screens out of, but nonetheless need to management lights, locks, music, and so on., with out reaching for a telephone or utilizing voice.

I don’t see utilizing Mui Board completely as a wise dwelling controller; its software program doesn’t really feel fairly there but for creating scenes and automations. However as an interface to your sensible dwelling, it’s a breath of recent air. And as a enjoyable system for controlling music, setting timers, and enjoying the piano, it’s profitable, if very, very costly.

It’s been a gradual burn to get the Mui Board to the place it’s right now, and I’m intrigued to see the place this considerate firm takes its calm tech idea subsequent. Mui Labs will probably be at CES once more this yr, the place the corporate plans to debut a brand new well-being-focused sleep experience and “movement-based lighting management” for the Mui Board.

Images and video by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge