Hands-on with the Mui Board: a wooden smart home controller

The Mui Board is a $999 smart home controller built into a piece of wood that uses capacitive touch and dot-matrix icons instead of a traditional screen. After years of development since its 2019 debut, the Raspberry Pi-based device supports Matter, Sonos, Philips Hue, and other integrations. It offers a minimalist, calm-tech approach to controlling lights, music, thermostats, and timers through touch interactions on a natural wood surface. While thoughtfully designed and responsive, its high price point, limited Matter support (Wi-Fi only, Thread planned), and somewhat basic smart home functionality position it as a niche product for those prioritizing aesthetics and screen-free living over comprehensive automation features.