SwitchBot

SwitchBot was born from a simple frustration: in 2015, engineer Connery Lee moved back to China from Singapore and found himself unable to control his lights from his phone without replacing the wall switch, something his rental agreement forbade. That annoyance sparked the idea for a tiny robot that could press any physical button. Lee assembled the first 200 units himself over two sleepless nights, and the SwitchBot Bot launched on Kickstarter, quickly becoming a darling of renters and DIY smart home enthusiasts.

The company's philosophy is refreshingly straightforward: instead of replacing your appliances, just add a bot. The SwitchBot Bot sticks onto any toggle switch or push button and lets you control it via app, voice assistant, or schedule. From there the lineup grew organically, the SwitchBot Curtain (2019), which motorizes existing curtain rods without tools, and later sensors, cameras, smart locks, and cleaning robots. Every product emphasizes no-wiring installation and compatibility with existing gear, which has earned SwitchBot a devoted fanbase among apartment dwellers and anyone who hates drilling into walls.

Under the hood, the ecosystem relies on a mix of WiFi and BLE for connectivity, with a central hub that ties everything together. The devices work with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant out of the box, and the company has steadily added Matter support to keep up with the evolving smart home standard. In 2026, SwitchBot made headlines by acquiring Nanoleaf Canada Ltd. for $40 million and launching the SwitchBot Lock Vision, a smart lock with a built-in camera, plus an all-in-one smart home display. The company maintains its R&D nerve center in Shenzhen, with offices in Hong Kong, Houston, and Tokyo to serve a global customer base. [edit]