Introduction:
This is a case study of Homey Pro an SME-sized business from the Smart home industry.
Emile Nijssen and Stefan Witkamp launched Athom, a startup in 2014 that has gained popularity in the smart home industry. Through a Kickstarter campaign, they introduced their first Homey product a smart speaker and hub. They have now released a series of improved models, each with more features and power.
Their latest model is the Homey Pro, built around the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4. What makes this hub special is that it’s designed to work with almost any smart device you can think of, thanks to its built-in modules and antennas that support a wide range of communication protocols.
With Homey Pro, users can manage all their smart home devices from one place, either through a smartphone app or a web dashboard. It also offers a simple way to automate things with its Flow system, which doesn’t require any coding skills.
There’s even a large community of users who share their automation setups, and some even publish their apps on the Homey App Store, making it a real collaborative platform.
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The Challenge of Creating an Advanced Smart Home Hub
"We set out to create the world’s most advanced smart home hub," explains Emile Nijssen, co-founder and creative director of Athom. The goal with Homey Pro was to combine user-friendliness and cutting-edge software.
Customers needed the freedom to customize their setups deeply while still enjoying a polished and easy-to-use interface. That’s the key difference between Homey Pro and other options like open-source projects or basic smart home solutions from big tech. Athom aimed to deliver the best of both worlds.
The new-generation Homey Pro took over two years to develop and was built on the foundation of the Homey Bridge, which launched in 2022 to add local wireless connectivity to previous models.
One of the biggest challenges was supporting a wide range of communication protocols—Zigbee, Z-Wave, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 433MHz RF, infrared, and Thread—all while keeping the design clean and compact.
“We did not want it looking like a gaming router with antennas sticking out everywhere,” says Emile. “We also wanted to leverage the development we had done on Homey Bridge.” By developing Homey Bridge with future upgrades in mind, Athom was able to plan for the Compute Module integration, which allows Homey Pro to handle the required communication systems while keeping a smooth, user-friendly experience.
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The Solution for Maximizing Smart Home Functionality
“When we were designing Homey Pro, the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 was the perfect fit for what we wanted to achieve,” recalls Emile Nijssen.
One of the big advantages was how quickly it allowed them to bring the product to market. Instead of spending time designing a small Linux computer from scratch, the team could concentrate on developing smart home features that would distinguish Homey Pro.
Integrating the Compute Module 4 was simple due to its great documentation and freely available software. Emile points out a key feature they built on: a system that allows the Raspberry Pi to enter USB mode, making it easy for users to flash their Homey Pro with software directly through a web browser. "We built a beautiful website around this process, so flashing your Homey Pro is as simple as a few clicks," he adds.
Most of the other components in the device are communication modules. Homey Pro includes Zigbee and Thread, which share a radio, a Z-Wave chip, and a 433MHz modem from Texas Instruments.
It also has an infrared LED for transmitting IR data, and an RGB LED ring for user feedback. The Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4, which connects to all of these systems, uses an ESP32 board to interface with external peripherals.
Because of its modular design, Homey Pro can integrate a variety of smart home appliances, providing it with the powerful functionality and simple user experience that Athom set out to create.
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Why did Homey Pro choose Raspberry Pi?
"I’ve had my eyes on Raspberry Pi from the beginning," says Emile Nijssen. When the Compute Module 4 with built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth was announced, Athom wasted no time. "Literally the day after the announcement, I called my electrical engineers and said, ‘Forget everything we’ve done so far—we’re switching to this.’"
For Emile, the key advantage of using Raspberry Pi is the software support. “There are plenty of Linux boards out there, but most of them require you to build your own device tree. With Raspberry Pi, the community is incredible. So much has already been done for you."
He explains that the Compute Module 4 strikes the perfect balance between functionality, size, and cost, making it the ideal choice for powering Homey Pro.
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The Overall Results
Homey Pro has a broad appeal to anyone with smart devices who wants to automate their home without spending hours on setup. "They want something that works out of the box, then lets them explore and customize from there," says Emile Nijssen.
He describes these users as "nerds with taste" people who value a polished, well-designed product that has been thoughtfully and carefully created.
Homey Pro enables users to control a large range of smart devices from many brands using a single interface, eliminating the need to switch between apps.
Unlike more complex open-source options like Home Assistant, Homey Pro is easy to set up and use right from the start.
It’s a commercial product that "works out of the box," but still offers the flexibility to customize as much as the user wants. The Flow automations are useful in this situation. Drag and drop cards allow users to easily define rules for their smart homes.
For example, "If the last person leaves home during the day, turn off all the lights." It feels like programming, but without the complexity of actual coding.
Energy management is also becoming an important element. According to Emile, monitoring energy usage is becoming increasingly important.
Homey Pro enables customers to track the amount of energy used by their gadgets and examine the data in the form of intuitive charts.
Athom is continuously developing new features to aid users in not only conserving energy but also balancing their energy consumption, a rapidly growing market trend.
Another distinctive feature of Homey Pro is its firm stance on privacy. Emile emphasizes, "We don’t sell data. We’re a simple company. We make a great product, you buy it, and that’s it."
When compared to its key competitor Google Home, Homey Pro offers a higher level of customization options while simultaneously safeguarding users' safety and security within their own homes.
Because they are concerned about their privacy, many customers pick Homey Pro over large IT corporations.
Source: "Homey Pro smart home hub". https://www.raspberrypi.com/success-stories/homey-pro-smart-home-hub/. Raspberry Pi, Accessed 27 September 2024.
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Conclusion:
The Homey Pro smart home hub is a fantastic choice for anyone looking to simplify their home automation. Powered by the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4, it connects to almost any smart device and features a user-friendly Flow automation system—no coding needed!
Homey Pro also focuses your privacy and protects your data. As smart home technology advances, Homey Pro simplifies home control and energy savings
Whether you're a tech pro or a newbie, Homey Pro will make your home more simple and smart!
