Hands-on with Ugreen’s HomeAgent — a local smart home system

Ugreen, known for its phone power banks, chargers, and NAS storage solutions, is moving into the smart home — in a big way. This week at the IFA tech show, the company launched its HomeAgent smart home platform that combines security camera storage, on-device AI, and smart home control in one system, managed by a voice assistant called Uliya, with the promise that everything runs locally.

At the core of Ugreen’s HomeAgent system is a hub that acts as the brain of your smart home, running a local-first AI (with some caveats) that you can interact with using natural language via Uliya. There are three hub configurations to choose from, each of which stores all data locally and processes video footage on-device, keeping it local and private and without monthly subscription fees. Albeit likely at a higher upfront cost.

The big pitch is that your data never needs to leave your home, addressing two key smart-home concerns: privacy and recurring subscriptions. Ugreen says its powerful AI runs on the hub, providing features like cross-camera tracking, smart alerts for people, vehicles, pets, packages, and live status questions such as “where is my pet now?”

There’s also AI-powered video search and text descriptions of events, along with natural language voice control of smart home devices and automations. Along with local storage of your camera footage, the system can store personal files, including music, movies, and photos, just like a NAS.

All this comes without monthly storage fees for video footage that are common with popular cloud-based solutions, such as Amazon’s Ring and Alexa and Google’s Nest cameras and Gemini for Home.

Full retail pricing hasn’t been announced. The system will launch on Kickstarter in October with discounted early-bird pricing.

The idea of combining your digital home and life on a single hub that uses local AI to store, manage, and run everything is fast gaining traction. Companies like SwitchBot, Reolink, and Aqara have made moves in this space, and this week at IFA, Anker launched a similar product called the Eufy MindBase.

Both systems use the Matter smart home standard to incorporate smart home devices from different brands. I visited Ugreen’s booth at IFA and got a hands-on demo, where I controlled Nanoleaf lights alongside smart blinds with voice commands to Uliya via the HomeAgent hub.

The HomeAgent hub is a Matter controller and will support third-party devices using Wi-Fi, Zigbee, Thread, Bluetooth, NFC, ONVIF/RTSP, and PoE. Ugreen says it will publish a device compatibility list, which is currently fairly small and includes devices from Aqara, ThirdReality, SwitchBot, and Eve. In theory, any Matter device should work, but the first phase supports only lights, switches, sensors, and curtains — and the company advises sticking with products it has approved.

Ugreen is also launching a smart speaker to run Uliya, along with a line of security cameras: the SynCare Indoor Cam ID500 Pro, the SynCare POE Cam OD600 Pro, and a battery-powered SynCare Cam OD800 Pro. A unique integration is with Ugreen’s new E Ink Spectra-powered digital photo frame that can display your photos stored on the hub, which again need never go into the cloud.

The three versions of the HomeAgent hub offer increasing levels of compute for more advanced processing and broader AI-powered features:

The HomeAgent HA100 can execute simple, basic rule-based automation and control using specific voice commands; the HomeAgent HA100 Pro adds semantic and context-aware understanding; and the MasterAgent MA100 version brings the highest level of local compute power via an NVIDIA Jetson Thor T5000 platform.

While everything can run locally on the HomeAgent, features such as push notifications and remote viewing of your security camera footage require internet access. There is also an option to use the cloud for the Uliya voice assistant.

Keeping all your data inside your home, while still enjoying the benefits AI can bring to managing your smart home and digital life, is a compelling idea. Whether Ugreen’s Home Agent succeeds will depend on how well it integrates with what you already own and how easy it is to set up and use.

Photos by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge