Introducing Connected Design’s pilot Unboxing Video. Chief Editor Erinn Loucks installed an Orro One light switch in her own home, experienced it for three months and reports back on what she found.

Orro calls itself human centric lighting. This is not the first time a lighting company has tried to encompass this concept, but Orro has done it in a way that actually feels practical. The light detects motion, sound and the ambient lighting, meaning that it will turn on when it detects your presence, stay on if it “hears” you in the room but only at a level that makes sense with the natural light and the time of day. It will turn off after a certain period of time as well. 

So if you walk into the kitchen in the middle of the night, the light will automatically be bright enough to illuminate your surroundings but soft enough not to jar you awake. In the morning after sunrise but before the sun is fully up, it’s bright to help wake you up but not in an obtrusive way. 

In the middle of the day, it typically goes into an “Eco” mode, where it detects your presence but doesn’t turn on if the natural lighting is bright enough. 

You can also manually configure Orro to your personal preferences. Orro offers scenes or you can create custom scenes. It will also learn if you prefer certain variances at different times of the day.

The Orro One plugs directly into the wall using the same wires that are connected to your existing switch or dimmer. It requires a neutral wire. Most homes built or remodeled after 1980 will have a neutral wire in the junction box, but that might be a downside if you’re dealing with a much older home.

Each Orro One replaces a single existing switch in your home. It can also support three way circuits where two switches control the same light, and even more complicated circuits as well. 

For installation, there are detailed instructions how to install. If you’ve ever installed any kind of light switch or know the basics of wiring, this is pretty simple to do.

On top of lighting, Orro is kind of its own smart home system. From the switch, you can also integrate controls for wireless speakers, climate controls, an intercom, locks, doorbells and more. There’s also  of course an app that all of this can be controlled from.

That’s a wrap for Orro. It’s an easy way to enter the smart home industry from a DIY perspective, and for the professional, it’s simple to install and offers the homeowners a pretty cool way to experience human centric lighting. 

For more information, visit https://getorro.com.

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