TP-Link and its smart home brand Kasa Smart unveiled at CES 2019 a series of products and services, including seven smart home products, a cloud-based AI platform and mesh Wi-Fi solutions.
TP-Link and its smart home brand Kasa Smart unveiled at CES 2019 a series of products and services, including seven smart home products, a cloud-based AI platform and mesh Wi-Fi solutions.
The product lineup includes a video doorbell, outdoor and indoor security cameras, voice-enabled light switch, smart in-wall outlet and smart outdoor plug, which will be rolled out onto the market throughout the first half of 2019.
The smart cameras are equipped with facial recognition so that it can trigger customized alerts when a family member or stranger is identified.
The light switch has microphones and a speaker built-in to enable voice control. “Users can enjoy voice assistant capability directly from the light switch, allowing flexible placement in locations where smart speakers may not be ideal like hallways, bathrooms, garages, and more,” says the company.
The light switch can play music, provide weather updates or act as a doorbell intercom. Also, the switch may be triggered to turn on or off automatically when motion is detected.
Kasa’s products, which connect to Wi-Fi and work out of the box with the home router, are compatible with Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and Microsoft Cortana. The popular Kasa Smart Plug Mini will become compatible with Apple HomeKit in early 2019, the company announced.
Cloud platform to enable AI services
At CES the company also introduced its Smart Actions platform, which enables intelligent interactions among multiple products within the Kasa Smart ecosystem. The AI features include person and package detection, facial recognition and filtered video summary.
The Kasa Smart cloud already processes 50 million interactions like turning on light or recording a video when motion is detected on a daily basis, according to the company. Now that a layer of artificial intelligence is added to the interactions, “the possibilities of customized combinations are immense,” said David Li, CEO of TP-Link Research America.
The video summary feature allows a quick review of a day’s worth of motion events captured by the camera or video doorbell. A scrollable time-lapsed daily brief will be presented so that users won’t have to review video footage with no activities.
Video summary becomes even more powerful when combined with facial recognition, allowing algorithms to filter video events based on a specific person.
With the latest offering at CES, Kasa has shown its ambition to provide an inclusive smart home ecosystem. “We are moving beyond stand-alone, single connectivity, into multi-faceted automation of the home,” said Damir Skripic, vice president of product and services for TP-Link Research America.
Mesh Wi-Fi solutions
TP Link, as a global network devices provider, also presented three new whole-home mesh solutions at CES.
The OneMesh solution enables whole-home Wi-Fi coverage by upgrading routers’ firmware or adding range extenders to existing devices. This is easier and more cost-effective compared with replacing existing devices or purchasing a whole new Wi-Fi ecosystem, TP-Link says.
Another whole-home mesh Wi-Fi system, Deco X10, features mesh technology with AX speeds, providing “corner to corner coverage for a high number of devices with less interference,” says TP-Link.
Last but not least, Deco M9 Plus tri-band Mesh WiFi router features AC2200 speeds and tri-band Wi-Fi with dedicated backhaul to deliver connections to more than 100 devices throughout the home while doubling as a smart home hub for IoT devices.