Hands-on with the Mui Board: a wood good residence controller

One of the enjoyable components of being a tech journalist for over a decade is that sometimes you get to look at a very distinctive gadget go from idea to actuality — and, finally, into your lounge. That’s the case with the Mui Board, a sensible residence controller constructed into a bit of wooden.

The Mui was first demoed at CES in 2019, and I’ve seen it at a number of exhibits through the years, in numerous iterations, at all times with the promise that it might ship quickly. Well, this yr it did (in restricted portions!), and I lastly bought to attempt one out in my lounge.

You might name the Mui Board an anti-smart show. A Raspberry Pi-based good residence controller with Matter help, it’s only a piece of wooden in your wall when not in use. But 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 sensible show for.

The concept is that know-how ought to mix into your private home — 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 good shows in my residence, I’ve lengthy been intrigued by Mui’s different strategy and was excited to attempt it out.

I’ve had the Mui Board second gen in my residence for a number of days now, and whereas I haven’t had an opportunity to completely put it by way of its paces, I’ve been impressed by its responsiveness, considerate design, and impressive 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 onerous to think about many individuals spending a thousand {dollars} on a sensible residence controller — however for the appropriate individual, it’s undeniably pleasant.

An easier good residence 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 lounge, 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 most recent 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 count on at first look. You can dim and switch lights on and off (no colour altering), regulate a thermostat’s temperature, mode, and fan pace, open and shut curtains and locks, and switch good plugs on and off. What’s totally different from different good residence controllers with contact interfaces is that there aren’t 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 may show the time and climate. You can 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 greatest 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 seems like know-how you possibly can play with.

For good residence 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.

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

As a Matter controller, it might probably arrange and management supported Matter gadgets instantly, with out utilizing Amazon, Google, Apple, or related companies. It works with lighting, plugs, and thermostats, with locks subsequent on the roadmap.

It at the moment 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 greatest up to now, whereas the opposite classes are still in limited testing.

I efficiently added a Meross Matter Wi-Fi good plug on to the board however struggled to pair some Matter gadgets, resembling 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 somewhat than a neighborhood connection. I actually appreciated the Veil of Night feature that allows you to draw a line on the board to set a timer that step by step dims the lighting.

Ultimately, the Mui Board is a giant button / swap for controlling your good residence, with the advantage of icons to information you to what you’re doing and not using a vivid display. As with any icon-based management, it takes a little bit of studying to recollect which icon does what, however you possibly can customise the format to place your most-used controls on the primary display and scroll by way of extra screens for extra choices.

While 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. Also, there’s the problem of what to do with the cable.

I put in the Mui in our lounge, 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 wish to preserve screens out of, but nonetheless need to management lights, locks, music, and many others., with out reaching for a cellphone or utilizing voice.

I don’t see utilizing Mui Board completely as a sensible residence controller; its software program doesn’t really feel fairly there but for creating scenes and automations. But as an interface to your good residence, it’s a breath of contemporary 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 at the moment, and I’m intrigued to see the place this considerate firm takes its calm tech idea subsequent. Mui Labs shall 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 control” for the Mui Board.

Photos and video by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge