"uControl has all the ingredients of a sophisticated, professionally-installed smart home control system."

Chris Pinder reveals a surprise aluminium version of the uControl Remote to audiences at the uControl Keynote - EI Live! 2024, UK.

The HDA keynote surprised the audience with two new uControl smart remotes, plus dedicated single and multiroom control processors, a "wall-mode" app version, deeper Sonos integration, and Apple Intelligence for voice control.

Focusing on control of media, music, lighting, smart plugs, blinds and shades, uControl is an uncomplicated smart home ecosystem, offering integrators a breakthrough solution in mid-market home automation.

WATCH INSTEAD: links to video clips from the keynote detailing everything that was announced:

• The all-new uControl Remote
• A redesigned uControl App, including the new Wall Mode interface.
• Expanded voice control with Siri and Alexa.
• Apple Intelligence and Sonos integration.
• The new uControl Rithum Switch Pro keypad.

We surprised visitors with an aluminium version of they uControl Remote, available in multiple colours.

The star was the new uControl Remote. This sleek, universal remote consolidates control of all home systems, from AV and lighting to shades, with tactile buttons and customisable sequences. Thanks to Wi-Fi and BLE connectivity, it offers an instant-on response for a seamless user experience.

uControl App is completely redesigned.

We surprised visitors with an aluminium version of they uControl Remote, available in multiple colours.

The redesigned uControl app is all about speed and ease. With a streamlined interface, users can control media, lighting, and music in just two taps. Navigating devices and scenes is now smoother and faster, enhancing the experience for both homeowners and installers.

New interface type in Wall Mode.

A new interface type is added to uControl's repertoire.

Introducing Wall Mode: a sleek, minimalist interface designed for wall-mounted tablets. Control multiple rooms, adjust lighting and shades, and more. Perfect for high-traffic areas, Wall Mode offers effortless and stylish control at your fingertips.

Voice control with Siri Intents & Amazon Alexa.

Siri is added to uControl's voice support via iOS App Intents.

Voice control is a core feature of smart homes, and with uControl + Siri and uControl + Alexa you can dim the lights, crank the tunes, or manage your entire home with simple, hands-free commands.

Dillan Pattni talks about adding Apple Intelligence to uControl.

Leveraging AI for more more human forms of control.

uControl is taking smart home automation further with Apple Intelligence. Use Siri Shortcuts on your iPhone or iPad for effortless home management, or point your device at objects to trigger scenes with Siri's AI smarts.

A surprise! SONOS to be integrated into uControl.

SONOS will be integrated directly into uControl for full volume and playback control.

uControl now offers deeper Sonos integration, making it easier than ever to control music throughout the home. From the app or remote, users can quickly switch between speakers, adjust volume, and personalised playlists.

Introducing the uControl Rithum Switch Pro.

Add smart switches to your uControl project with the uControl Rithum Switch Pro.

Designed in partnership with Rithum, this PoE-powered wall-mounted keypad provides quick access to lighting, media, and sequences, offering a tactile control experience that complements the digital interface.

All MHUBs after 2022 are ready for new features.

uControl controllers are in thousands of homes already with MHUB featuring uControl inside.

MHUB systems, with ‘uControl inside’, serve as central media hubs for seamless smart home control. Upgrading your clients existing MHUB setups to the latest uControl features is simple. With the new remote and app, now is the ideal time to enhance your clients' smart home experience.

Dillan Pattni

HDA & uControl on Apex booth with Meridian & GUDE at CEDIA Expo 2024 Denver, Booth #C1305.

HDA + uControl will be exhibiting on our US distributor, Apex Technologies booth, alongside our friends at Meridian Audio and GUDE at CEDIA Expo 2024 - the premier global event for Home Tech Pros taking place in Denver, Colorado from September 5-7. Booth #C1305

Of course, we can’t reveal too many secret details ahead of our uControl keynote event at EI Live! on September 18 but visitors to the Apex booth at CEDIA Expo will have the first opportunity to get hands-on with the new uControl Remote.

Chris Pinder

Everyone's invited! Guests attending EI Live! 2024 are welcome to register their interest for the inaugural uControl Keynote.

Summary:

• uControl Remote will "feature prominently" in Keynote "but expect more".
• EI Live!’s inaugural Keynote address in the new main stage auditorium.
• “unexpected and surprising details” about the uControl product range promised

We're thrilled to announce a special Keynote on the main stage at this year's EI Live! The Keynote will introduce exciting new uControl devices, a redesigned and rebuilt uControl Remote, and a transformed uControl App.

With most of the UK CI community attending EI Live!, we felt it was the perfect opportunity to get the uControl message out to as many installers as possible.

Justin and I were recently in Johannesburg, South Africa, where we gave guests there a sneak peek of the full keynote to come.

More than just a remote control.

HDA originally announced the uControl Remote project at ISE sixteen months ago. But we're now keen to stress that uControl is much more than a remote handset.

We've been working towards this day for a long time, and we're excited to finally relaunch uControl in a big way. The remote will feature prominently, but expect more than just a handset. I promise we'll be revealing some unexpected and surprising details about the uControl product range, which has significantly advanced since its last outing.

The Keynote is scheduled to start at 1100 on September 18, day one of the show, on the new main auditorium stage at EI Live! Farnborough International Exhibition & Conference Centre.

After the Keynote, the HDA team will host Q&A sessions with the uControl product engineers, developers and designers and various live hands-on demos.

Everyone's welcome.

Register here

Chris Pinder

We are delighted to share the news that uControl has been accepted into the esteemed technology accelerator BetaDen after a rigorous multi-stage shortlisting and pitching process. This momentous step signifies a significant milestone for uControl as we embark on a transformative journey through the accelerator program in 2024.

Dillan Pattni, Chris Pinder and Justin Fothergill at BetaDen Cohort 7.0 Showcase on the 23rd May 2024.

The primary objectives of our participation in BetaDen, a strategic move, are to help navigate stringent regulations and compliance in global markets, fast-track the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into the uControl platform, and accelerate the next generation of uControl products and features.

We are already exploring the use of assistive AI in the setup, configuration, and personalization of a uControl system. This will allow users to customize their uControl experience more easily and quickly, making advanced technology accessible to everyone.

uControl is aiming to:

• Learn user habits to suggest and create sequences and presets that enhance daily life.
• Refine and expand the database of supported devices, enabling the intelligent creation of the uControl UI without human intervention.
• Enhance troubleshooting conversations and resolve usability quirks with the assistance of uControl’s own LLM.

Our inclusion in BetaDen's Cohort 8.0 brings a host of benefits. These include access to potential investors, technology consultants, cutting-edge facilities, and an office at The Science Park—a picturesque setting under the Malvern Hills for nurturing high-tech companies. We are excited to leverage these resources for our growth and development.

Find the uControl Team based at the Malvern Hills Science Park moving forward.

We look forward to sharing more updates as uControl continues to innovate and grow within BetaDen's supportive ecosystem.

Chris Pinder

We’re conscious that it’s been a few weeks since our last remote update blog, so we thought we should release a video of where we’re at with the latest prototype.

In the video Justin has taken a factory fresh uControl Remote and programmed it directly from the Zone Processor tasked with controlling the MHUB S in our office.

Will there ever be an end to prototyping the remote?

Yes, but sometimes you've just got to admit when things haven't gone as well as you planned! And that's how to sum up October and November - weeks of toil punctuated with a few more costly lessons regarding the fit and finish of the remote's plastic parts.

If you have been following the uControl Remote's journey so far, you will know that we were not 100% happy with the finish achieved with the plastic parts (casing, buttons and screen) from our first forays in to injection moulding.

But two steps forward and one step back is still progress. And with each "failure", the consequential design changes incrementally improve the overall quality, fit, finish and function of the final product.

We find solace in Elon's quote, "specialise in making the impossible merely late.” Even though we encounter setbacks, we remain committed to delivering the ambitious uControl Remote project soon!

We have learned an enormous amount from this prototyping phase, which has lasted nearly a year. We now move to the product’s final design-for-manufacture (DFM) phase, where we have made several changes to the parts and components, and how the remote is assembled.

I’ve picked out a few things here in the CAD to show you the evolution of parts.

• Increase button height
• Create a single piece screen and IR window
• Improvements to battery housing

The OLED screen is no longer part of the front face and has been separated.

The buttons have been redesigned reducing the amount of plastic injected into the mould and the height has been increased.

To further expand my knowledge of the technology, techniques, and innovation happening in the UK’s plastics industry, I attended the leading plastics exhibition and conference, ‘Interplas’, in September at the NEC. By the end of the day, I was enthused about several new approaches we could take with the remote’s manufacture and with the bonus of doing it all in the UK. I came away from the show with new and improved ideas to implement, including laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) metal additive manufacturing for essentially 3D printed mould tools, glass-like polycarbonate with laser plastic welding for the screen, sustainable polymers for the case, and LED UV printing for the button text, to name but a few!

A new manufacturing partner located close to our Malvern HQ!

Today, I am pleased to write this blog update from an advanced manufacturing facility we're using to produce parts of the uControl Remote, which is only a short drive from our Malvern HQ! Although it was frustrating to start over and push back delivery timescales, ultimately, I know we made the right choice.

When will we be shipping?

Honestly, we are now closer than ever to being able to ship the first batches of remotes. I would urge you to register your interest to ensure you’re the first to know!

Do you have a question about the uControl Remote? Ask it in our uControl Development Tips and Tricks group.

Would you like to become a beta tester and help us make the uControl Remote as good as possible?

We’re looking for helpful HDANYWHERE installers with an MHUB in their showroom or home to give feedback on the uControl Remote setup, configuration, operation and performance. If you’re interested, let us know here.

Chris Pinder

It’s been an eventful month! Quite literally, as September has been punctuated with exhibitions.

Firstly, we packed some pre-production working prototypes of the uControl Smart Remote into our rucksacks and travelled to the CEDIA Expo in Denver, CO - the USA’s biggest trade show dedicated to residential tech, with more than 20,000 home tech professionals in attendance. After three days of demonstrating the remote to US integrators we were pleasantly surprised to receive a ‘Best of Show’ award!

uControl Remote and MHUB S were amongst the winners of Residential Systems "Best In Show" Awards and Smart Building Awards in the UK.

Visitors got an insight into the (industrial) design journey where we showed the uControl Remote from concept to pre-production prototype.

Remote software and electronics are complete. (Dillan can be smug about this) Our prototypes are working great. So that’s the good news. The bad news is that I have continued to battle with the complexities of the remote’s design, and assembly in terms of plastics. There are 48 plastic elements in the remote’s construction and a very high degree of precision is required for the mechanics of the remote, particularly the buttons, to fit and feel right. We want the remote to have a high quality finish and are not prepared to ship until this has been achieved.

We rejected all uControl Remotes we had prepared for the show(s). The buttons and their placement require a very high level of precision and finish and the recent modifications to the mould had pushed the plastics beyond their tollerance limits.

After a number of reworks, adjustments and retexturing of the moulds, we have still not been able to achieve the desired result. So my quest continues to fix this vital aspect of the remote. Unfortunately and frustratingly, taking what we have learned from our endeavours so far, the conclusion is that it's best that new moulds are designed and manufactured with a new and improved mechanical design. We have enlisted the help of a new partner on this, one with a reassuring track record, and we’re very hopeful for a swift resolution to our plastic problems in weeks rather than months.

We've made the difficult decision to re-tool and rebuild the remote moulds.

We have appointed new partners to help us with the plastics.

We really appreciate your appetite and enthusiasm for the remote. We also appreciate your patience and understanding. We know that you know what we are trying to do is hard and we remain locked on to delivering a fantastic product that you will love.

Mike Ranpura, Director, Smart Life Audio Visual and respected member of the custom install industry voted uControl Remote one of his top ten products at EI Live! show. Thanks!

Do you have a question about the uControl Remote? Ask it in our uControl Development Tips and Tricks group.

Chris Pinder

In 1991, with the home PC market booming, the “Intel inside” campaign made the microprocessor company a household name. In marketing-speak, it's called “ingredient branding” and well, basically, we've stolen been inspired by the idea to help uControl‘s own processor awareness.

The uControl Remote is a companion interface for HDA hubs that feature a uControl processor inside, i.e. a new MHUB, or ZP with “uControl inside”. You will start to see the ‘uControl inside’ logo throughout HDA’s marketing to help drive awareness. It also ties in perfectly with our ambition for uControl to be inside peoples’ homes, lives and minds.

The new uControl inside mark featured on all forthcoming MHUB and Zone Processor products - we're really happy with it!

Talking of marketing, we’ve been hard at work updating the uControl info and collateral on our websites, which go live over the coming days. Time has been spent designing our EI Live! Booth, which takes place on September 13 in Farnborough. It will be the first UK public outing for the remote. Visitors can get hands-on and put the new remote through its paces with live demos on the HDA booth, Stand 11. It’s sure to be one of the main attractions at EI Live! Final pricing and shipping information will also be revealed at the show.

I have some more frustrating news regarding the plastics. You will have seen in my last post the non-textured versus textured plastics. Well, quite frankly, we just didn’t like how it turned out, so we’ve taken the decision to try an alternative, more-subtle texture from a new partner and we hope it will prove to be the final one!

The new uControl Remote moulds after applying a finer, more refined, texture trimming about 0.001cm off the original plastic.

This has added some more weeks onto production but we are confident that we’ll have samples featuring the final plastics at CEDIA Expo in Denver on Sept 7 and at EI Live on Sept 13.

Finally, we have made some last minute changes to button naming...

A few subtle changes to the labelling and appearance of the uControl Remote.

After playing with the remote for a little bit during our internal testing, we realised that the top three buttons would be easier to understand if we changed them, from Display/Audio/AV to TV/AUDIO/INPUT. And as you can see, we also changed all the text to capital letters for better legibility.

If you can make it, we’d love to see you at CEDIA Expo (if you're USA-based, use code: EXIV883372) and EI Live! If you’re in the UK which is FREE to register.

Chris Pinder

On the hardware front, 'the guts' of the uControl Remote's electronics are finished. Still, annoyingly, there are some ongoing cosmetic issues with the plastic enclosure injection moulds, which I promise I'm working hard to resolve.

The uControl Remote is complete but some problems still remain with the plastics.

I mentioned in my April update that I was focusing on improving the moulded plastic parts. Since then, I have been experimenting with different types of plastic, textures and paint finishes.

The first attempt to texture the uControl Remote ended up feeling and looking a little too severe.

We are still not happy with the latest plastic enclosure results on the latest prototype, which you can see in the images and video. The feeling is that the texture is a little too severe and has had some unintended consequences when it comes to printing. So we are retooling the injection moulds with a finer texture, which will take 2-3 more weeks to complete.

A new problem we've faced is making the ink adhere to the textures we've applied to the plastic.

In the meantime, here is a video demonstration of the remote as of today.

A demonstration of the uControl Remote working.

The software elements are 90% complete, with just final changes being made to add the remote setup into uOS, the uControl App and refinements to the remote firmware itself.

Now, we are targeting shipping the first deliveries to beta testers at the end of July 2023.

Do you have a question about the uControl Remote? Ask them here on our facebook group.

Would you like to become a beta tester and help us make the uControl Remote as good as possible? We’re looking for helpful HDANYWHERE installers with an MHUB in their showroom or home to give feedback on the uControl Remote setup, configuration, operation and performance. If you’re interested, let us know here.

Chris Pinder

As Chris promised in his last post, here is my deep-dive on where we’re at with the uControl Remote software. This update is a five minute read, and a lot of it is about my approach to software design. I’m going to start by saying “Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.”

I’m (almost) certain that anyone who’s worked in an engineering or a technical field before has been told this multiple times in their career. However, I feel this particular saying is pertinent when you work in software. Other engineering disciplines, such as chemical, electrical or mechanical, are bound by rules in the physical world which limit what is and isn’t possible. This limitation, generally, doesn’t exist inside software and the only restriction in most cases is the horsepower of the hardware your software operates on. You could, in theory, build any feature set your mind desires.

This is a trap.

Set a simple goal

We navigate around this by setting a simple goal at the very start of the design process. If feature X or upgrade Y doesn’t address that goal then we (often it’s me who has to be the bad cop here) brutally cut the idea out. Our design goal was: “keep AV first and foremost”.

A goal like this sets a clear restriction on all aspects of software design which hopefully becomes evident as you read through this post. The result (I hope!) is software:

• That uses intelligent defaults so that most configuration options are ones that you would choose anyway or we automatically set based on data found in other settings.
• Design the interface in a way that visualises the remote configuration so that the remote is presented to the user in a simulation mode before committing to the device.
• Operates lean. Meaning that it works fast, fails less and could potentially function on any hardware we choose: no dedicated software and works entirely from a browser like all other HDA hardware.

A companion device

The uControl Remote has been designed to be a companion interface to HDA hardware (it will not work to the fullest of its capabilities on its own), which means that part of the process to get a uControl Remote working is to go through a mandatory basic configuration, which we call “First Boot”. In our latest operating system, uControl OS (uOS), this process is 3 steps (8 if you’re building a stacked system), and you will be guided through it from the uControl app. This will get your HDA hardware into an operational state by accomplishing three main things: connecting it to our cloud, defining zones or areas in your property, and assigning outputs or end-points inside them.

In order to setup the uControl Remote you will need to initialise your uOS controller in a process called First Boot. The image details how you add an output from MHUB in your Zone.

Controlling stuff

After the first boot process, it’s time to install uControl Packs for the sources, displays or AVRs that you wish to control. We’ve deployed tens of thousands of packs to date and we’ve refined this process in uOS so that it’s buttery smooth.

uControl Packs are files held on our cloud which contain device’s data for control, including the GUI layout for the app, all supported commands (IR or IP) and connection information.

Choose if you want to control your device over IR or IP and then select the device you want to install control for quickly and easily.

Downloading a uControl Pack is very easy. Select if you want to browse IP or IR packs, then browse device type, manufacturer and range, that’s it. If more than one pack matches that criteria, then uOS will download them all so you can test each one quickly and from one page. Where our system differs from others is that our packs are arranged by popularity rather than model number. So the first pack presented for test is the pack most often installed. In most cases, this matches what you want the first time which is a neat little time-saving feature. Once your uControl Pack is installed they become immediately exposed to our app, remote, voice, watch or API.

In newer HDA hardware you will also find a CEC uControl Pack (pre-installed) which will allow control over sources and displays - as long as the CEC command is supported!

The option to configure the uControl Remote will appear in uOS before the launch of the remote.

Adding the remote

You're almost there.

If you have set up a control system remote before, then this bit should feel quite familiar and we’re not doing anything drastically different here. Once the remote has joined the LAN it can be scanned for and added to uOS. After that, you’re asked 3 questions:

1. Which zone do you want to add the remote to?
2. Which end-point is in charge of volume control? (i.e. if there’s more than one audio output choice, for example an AVR and the TV speakers themselves, then we will ask you to nominate a default, as the remote can and will support 2 different volume commands if desired).
3. Add an On/Off Sequence to the power button or list devices for individual power control.

Once that is done uOS will take all the configuration data and build your uControl Remote configuration. If you want to use the remote at this stage then you’re ready to go as this will match the app configuration almost exactly. BUT– we’ve added features that turn the remote into YOUR remote, it’s time to customise.

The configuration for the uControl Remote simulates the remote itself which makes it very easy to see what the remote is doing and (if you want) to change that behaviour.

Customise

I think where we differentiate from a traditional control system is the level of customisation that’s possible in the uControl Remote. It’s easier to think of the base configuration as a blank slate upon which you can add customisations to tailor the device to suit your exact needs. Let me give you an example.

Family member 1
likes to use the Power button to turn the AV in their room on. They like to do this one-by-one as it is done inside the uControl app.

Family member 2
prefers if this was done based on the activity (selecting Sky Q, for example) that they want to do in the room.

I’ve used this to demonstrate a point: generally, in a control system, this is a locked behaviour which makes the system easier to program and deploy but comes at the cost of flexibility and these limitations are quite common amongst the big players. In uOS and our approach, we’ve built it to support a myriad of options from day 1 (because we’re focusing only on AV) and as you can see it’s as difficult as selecting the button and adding the extra action yourself. Almost every button on the remote can have its own secondary action applied to it, but just because you can doesn’t mean that you should!

Overall we are still targeting shipping first deliveries to beta testers at the end of June 2023.

Would you like to help us make the uControl Remote as good as possible?
We're looking for helpful HDANYWHERE installers, who have an MHUB in their showroom or own home, to give feedback on the uControl Remote setup, configuration, operation and performance. If you’re interested please let me know.

Dillan Pattni