The struggle with getting out of bed just to turn the light-switch off is real. We’ve strived hard to make things infinitely easier, but some tactile experiences haven’t changed. Switching a lamp on, turning a volume knob up or down, or opening the curtains… they all require manual work for people who don’t have butlers or smart-homes. Born out of necessity (or sheer laziness and genius combined), the Smartians actuators by Frolic Studio help turn these physical experiences into digital ones. The tiny actuators come with a base, a smart hub, and a wide variety of attachments that can perform actions like pulling, pushing, twisting, rotating, releasing, etc. Use your ingenuity and a combination of these attachments to turn regular, tactile experiences around your house into smart ones. The Smartians can turn lights on or off, rotate the dial on the thermostat, put the kettle on, or even water your plants (this one’s pure genius, and a personal favorite!). You can communicate with individual actuators using the app (this works especially well for calibrated controls like a volume knob) or set up the Smartians to run using IFTTT or voice commands so you can instantly open your blinds by just simply telling Google Home or Alexa to do so! The Smartians are currently a functioning proof-of-concept (which works well for me, because I’d never get out of bed otherwise) with plans to roll out in the future, because the guys at Frolic Studio believe that old products shouldn’t be thrown out because they aren’t IoT connected… a reason that’s definitely much nobler than my appeal to humanity’s need to be lazy! Designer: