Nucleus makes your home smarter through intercom, video calling

If you live in a really big house or if you have a lot of family members or housemates around and would like to communicate with them easily without having to shout though the house, the Nucleus device may be your Christmas gift to your house to make it smarter. It functions as both a home intercom device as well a a video calling gadget. It also has the ability to connect with your home’s other automation services.

But primarily, the mini tablet can be used as an alternative to other video calling services like Skype, FaceTime, etc, because it bypasses the extra steps that usually happens when you use the aforementioned services. They say the Nucleus is “grandparent friendly” since it uses just voice commands to be able to call whomever you want to call. Just say the sentence “call grandma” and it can communicate with similar units or through the app that is available for Android devices.

As an intercom system however, it will function only together with other Nucleus devices. You can set it up around the house or even around the dorm if you’re so inclined. Within 200 milliseconds of telling it to contact another unit like “call the kitchen”, the video and audio feed will be live. You can set it up to either auto answer or manually. You can also set it up that the camera can be physically turned around so that if for example you call the bedroom, you won’t catch anyone in an awkward position. You’ll just see the wall until someone turns the camera around.

The Nucleus, which has an 8-inch touchscreen, can also connect with Nest, SmartThings, iControl and three other home automation services. Eventually, it will also probably get support from a “large music streaming service” that remains unnamed at this time. It can now be pre-ordered through their website for $209, but the actual selling price when they release is $249. Shipping is expected to start by next year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5pKIskZ368

VIA: SlashGear