An energy startup from Singapore gets you started on your smart home

The Intraix team. Photo credit: Intraix.

The internet of things, and the smart home in particular, is the next great frontier for people who want to keep selling you shiny gadgets. Companies no lesser than Google and Amazon are exploring solutions for making your own personal kingdom respond to your commands and think for you.

Klug means ‘smart,’ as in ‘smart home.’

One Singaporean startup is also thinking along those lines. Intraix was founded in 2012 to tackle energy consumption and efficiency. This is still part of its mission, but these days it’s found a different – and quite exciting – way to bring it to users.

Cue Klug.

If you think the name sounds awkward, you’re not alone. You also probably don’t speak German. The word (pronounced “kloog”) means “smart,” as in “smart home.”

The idea, Intraix co-founder and CEO Darrell Zhang says during a presentation of the product, is an affordable and easy-to-use way to start setting up your own thinking abode.

See: Intraix helps reduce your energy consumption

Plug and play

It all starts with a simple USB dongle, called Klug Home. It plugs into your router, and from there it’s good to go. Once powered, it becomes the hub for your smart devices, allowing you to control them through the Klug smartphone app.

The possible applications, as demoed by Intraix, are manifold, but one in particular is right up Intraix’s power-saving alley.

Klug Home plugged into a router. Photo credit: Intraix.

Using Klug Air, a little hexagon that attaches to your average garden-variety air conditioner, you can start “teaching” your air conditioning unit what your favorite temperature is, and when. If you turn it off every morning when you leave for work, after a few days the system will get the message and start turning it off for you.

This can be extended to a lot of other functions, and Klug allows for as much or as little variety and customization as you wish, the team says. For example, if you’re using a Fitbit, the wearable can signal the Klug app when you’ve gone into deep sleep. The system then tells your air conditioner to raise the temperature a bit so you won’t be freezing in your sleep.

Smart living