As with any trade show, the expo hall floor can be overwhelming. We tend to gravitate toward the familiar and can easily miss the hidden gems, but I went on the Smart Home Tour and was introduced to some unique companies that I’m excited to share with you.

Crestron — Booth 1901

Crestron, of course, is a familiar company, and this year at CEDIA Expo, it is showcasing the updated to the Crestron Home Platform. The company has brought 20 to 25 new updates to the software, including the addition of “if-then” conditional logic to boost its home automation capabilities.

Applied Sensor Co. — Booth 949

Over at the Launchpad, Applied Sensor Co. debuted its Trampletek Mat. Complete with pressure sensors and smart home integration, it is capable of tracking people, packages and pets. The mat can be programmed to trigger certain routines in the home, whether that be turning on a light or turning off the living room TV from the upstairs bedroom.

Jetbuilt — Booth 1135

Jetbuilt showcased its AI-powered Jetbot Service Desk that is going into beta and rolling out to the masses in a month. Built to reduce service caseloads for integrators, the consumer can scan the QR code on the back of any Jetbuilt device, and the Jetbot Service Desk will work with the consumer to help troubleshoot issues that arise.

FX Luminaire — Booth 932

FX Luminaire has been around for over 35 years but is fairly new to the AV market. On our tour, the company wanted to highlight its Luxer Controller. The controller is twofold; it contains the landscape lighting transformer and the fixtures, which possess a decoder. This gives the user zoning and dimming capabilities as well as color control.

Sol-Lux — Booth 3319

At the Sol-Lux booth, we saw a wide range of the company’s residential products. Most notable was EOS, a smart window awning. It is equipped with solar-powered, battery-operated motors and automated controls, as well as integrated sensors that retract the awning when it detects extreme weather conditions.

Juke Audio — Booth 832

Juke Audio demoed the Juke+ Multi-Room Streaming Amplifier. It has six zones of stereo output and can support up to 100 watts per channel and 32-bit audio resolution. One key feature is that once the product is connected to your local Wi-Fi network, you can go into your preferred music app and control your speakers — no need for a separate app.

Modern Atomics — Booth 3520

Modern Atomics showcased the Reaktor and the Collider. These are shade power distribution units. It has the capability to control 24 POE shades or 22 low voltage shades. Modern Atomics is also dedicated to sustainability. As such there is a 10-year transferable warranty and the products contain no conflict minerals.

Bond — Booth 4109

Over in the Bond booth, we got an overview of the Bond Bridge Pro product. This device connects RF and IR controlled appliances to the smart home. The company also debuted the Breeze Pro, a wind, rain and sun sensor. The Breeze Pro and Bridge Pro work together to add weather triggered controls and automation to outdoor screens or louver systems.

RoseWater Energy — Booth 3905

Our last stop on the tour was the RoseWater Energy booth where we saw the Hub40 — a dual-cabinet energy management system. The Hub40 comes with 200 amps of continuous power. There is also the smaller, single-cabinet Hub20 which has 100 amps of continuous power. Each are designed to provide Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) functionality with little transfer time.