Steve Rogerson talks with a man who is trying to put some magic into IoT and smart homes.

How cool would it be to wave a magic wand to turn the lights on and off in your bedroom? This could be nearer to reality than you think due to a company fittingly called Cauldron that is trying to put the magic back into technology, literally.

Cauldron, which has the tag line “Magic of Things”, was founded by Matt Cortland and Dave Duckworth more than five years ago as an entertainment company running a restaurant and bar where the beer taps were controlled by the customer using a magic wand.

They now have six bars with another two planned to open this year. And they are widespread with two in London and one each in Edinburgh and Brighton plus another two across the pond in Manhattan and Philadelphia. They also aim to launch a franchise model in the USA, which could see them popping up all over the place.

The customers are given a wand as they come in that uses wireless technology to turn the beer taps on and off and automatically charge a credit card. All was good until Covid hit and the bars were temporarily closed.

“So we started to develop a range of consumer products,” Matt told me when we had a chat earlier this week. Keeping with the magic theme, the first product comes in three parts – the wand, a runestone and a smart plug.

The wand is basically a switch that activates the runestone which then turns the smart plug wirelessly on and off. The plug can be up to 45 metres away from the runestone. This means the wand turns on and off anything that can be inserted into the smart plug. There is a nice video showing this on their Kickstarter page; the switching the Christmas tree lights on and off is my favourite.

The runestone can control any number of smart plugs and up to 32 runestones can control one smart plug. The money raised on Kickstarter will help fund mass production, which is due to start in China later this year with first products available in November, just in time for Christmas.

And if just turning something on and off does not seem that magical for budding Harry Potters out there, the Cauldron magicineering (they really call it that) team are working on connecting the runestone to a smart-home hub and giving it more features.

“Once you pair it with a bridge, you can pair it with other smart-home products,” said Matt. “The sky is the limit.”

Ok, this all brought a smile to my face, but what happens when the novelty wears off?

“It is quite fun to use,” said Matt. “I don’t think you’ll get bored with it. You can use it for your bedside lamp or desk lamp. It is really fun.”

He said it was important to them that their first IoT magical product was a magic wand-controlled smart plug because it gives users the ability to make almost any object magical.

“Your imagination is the limit, which is the point,” he said.

Dave added: “When designing the Wizard smart switch, our guiding mental image was that of an adult teaching a child to read. What could be more magical and special than reading your favourite fantasy book together before bedtime, only to say goodnight and then turning off the lights with a real-life magic wand. It’s pure magic.”

The Kickstarter campaign is near its end, and was looking good at the time of writing. If you decide to spend some money there, then you are also supporting a good cause as £5 of every smart switch purchase goes to the Cauldron Foundation, a charity that supports creating an inclusive magical community, with a focus on helping trans people and girls in STEM and education.

“Corporate social responsibility is something that is important to us,” said Matt. “We want an inclusive community.”

As for me, I am in London next week so may pop into one of their bars and give it a go.