Would you trust AI to run your home? Colmo thinks you will

As people become more attuned to comfort at home, indoor air quality has emerged as a priority that demands precise, responsive management.

Imagine this: the air in your home is managed by a digital butler powered by artificial intelligence. It links with all your smart appliances, continuously monitoring environmental variables such as temperature, humidity, and air quality. Using your preferences and adaptive algorithms, it triggers the appropriate devices to create and maintain a personalized indoor microclimate.

During the rainy season, it might hold the temperature at 20 degrees Celsius with humidity at 40%, ensuring a consistently crisp, dry atmosphere. If you’re moving into a new space with elevated levels of total volatile organic compounds (TVOCs) or formaldehyde, it automatically activates air purifiers to improve indoor airflow. At night, a simple voice command adjusts your bedroom’s air to its most comfortable state.

From morning workouts and leaving for work to prepping dinner, watching a movie, and settling in under soft lighting, the concept of a truly smart home is no longer theoretical.

On July 28, at this year’s World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC), home appliance brand Colmo introduced “AI Home,” its full-stack smart home solution, along with ostensibly the first AI agent designed for residential use.

At the event, Colmo showcased its Turing lineup of 11 appliances, including a central air conditioner, refrigerator, washing machine, microwave-steam-oven, and dishwasher. These devices are networked to create an integrated lifestyle experience managed by Colmo’s AI agent, which communicates, reasons, and coordinates services across the home.

The AI agent is powered by a foundation that combines Colmo’s proprietary large model, external large language models, and multidimensional data models. This architecture enables a broad sensory suite including environmental, visual, and tactile perception, along with natural interaction capabilities such as emotional cues, voice commands, and gesture recognition. Users can interact through a smart central control screen, the Colmo app, or any voice-enabled appliance, allowing the system to make and execute decisions autonomously.

Deploying such a system in the real world, however, poses major technical challenges. Homes differ widely in layout, and devices from various manufacturers may use incompatible communication protocols. Within a household, preferences vary among residents, and everyday routines evolve. Traditional smart appliances depend heavily on command-based inputs; integrating AI introduces a layer of contextual understanding.

With the launch of its AI agent and “AI Home” system, Colmo aims to bridge fragmented home subsystems into a unified framework that supports end-to-end perception, planning, and action.

“The complexity of a household increases exponentially compared to managing a single appliance,” said Xu Yi, head of Midea Group’s AI research institute, in an interview with 36Kr. “The key lies in applying large-model capabilities to unify these subsystems. In actual homes, the system is learning to make autonomous decisions. Our research focuses on three areas: understanding user needs, anticipating behavior, and enabling continuous user-guided model training.”

Colmo said it has transitioned from isolated smart devices to fully contextual home environments. On the hardware side, it deploys edge algorithms tailored to each appliance, equipping them with evolving on-device AI. On the software side, its Nexus platform combines general-purpose large models with Colmo’s own appliance-specific models, and connects to its broader “human-car-home” ecosystem.

These systems are already embedded in Colmo’s three flagship appliance lines: Turing, Neo, and Regie. This signals a shift from functional machines to intelligent, responsive agents.

Shang Zhe, head of smart home business at Midea Group, said the integration of AI across hardware and software enables deeper understanding of user behavior, device autonomy, and continuous service evolution. The goal: smarter, more seamless, and more personalized home experiences.

Colmo is also testing humanoid robots for domestic environments. At the conference, one robot was seen using the central control screen to activate kitchen appliances, retrieve fruit from the refrigerator, and prepare coffee. These robots are slated for deployment in Midea’s smart home retail stores later this year, where they will serve as guides, demonstrators, and interactive assistants.

KrASIA Connection features translated and adapted content that was originally published by 36Kr. This article was written by Huang Nan for 36Kr.