Building and wiring your dream smart home from the ground up is expensive and time-consuming. But retrofitting your existing home with smart home products is cheaper, and usually don’t require third party installs or services.

As we cover the Smart World, we’re seeing more and more devices that enable the full smart home experience without the need for renovations or re-wiring.  From a bulb that doubles as a security alarm for your home to sensors that turns old appliances into smart ones; a device that transforms your old light switch without rewiring it to a battery that turns your old smoke detector into a smart one, and even a device that allows you to control your old infrared air conditioning unit using your smartphone, there are plenty of options to retrofit regular homes with connected gadgets and services.

Innovation in the smart home market is abundant, so let’s take a look at a some of the newest smart home products that don’t require a great deal of extra work or expert installs.

Smart vent cover

Keen Home, Inc. has developed Smart Vent, a device that easily replaces your vent grills so it can smartly regulate the temperature in your home. And with the use of a smartphone app, it can customize temperatures for each room.

Smart Vent features automated louvers and temperature and pressure sensors that are battery powered and last up to two years. It also wirelessly communicates with other Smart Vents and other smart devices (think Nest’s learning thermostat) in your home to regulate the temperature.

To install the device, just unscrew your existing vent cover and place the Smart Vent in it its place. It has a removable face plate that is easy to clean and can even be painted to match your home. With four designer options, Smart Vent even improves on standard vent covers with a more modern look.

You can pre-order it now for $360 or pay in installments starting at $32 per month.

Motorized shades

Having motorized shades installed in your home can be costly because you have to pay for motors, shades or blinds, as well as the installation itself. Costs can exceed hundreds of dollars. But there may be a cheaper option called AXIS Gear.

The device attaches to your existing shade’s chain, has a capacitive touchscreen for control, a group button so you can control multiple Gears at once, and when the chain is tugged, it automatically opens the shades. You can also use a smartphone app to set schedules or control Gear.

You can pre-order the device on Indiegogo for $95 for a single unit. Expect it to arrive by October 2016.

Robotic finger

A South Korean company called The Naran, Inc. has come up with a robot finger called Microbot Push. It is a device that can be easily placed over light switches and buttons and controlled remotely over Bluetooth using your smartphone.

If you purchase the Prota Box from the company as well, the device can also be remotely controlled over Wi-Fi, even when you’re outside your house. You can also manually control it using the capacitive touch button when your smartphone is not with you.

The device pushes buttons or switches, which means if you want to control a light switch remotely, you would need two devices to turn it on and off remotely.

You can pre-order the device on Indiegogo for $49 for a single Microbot Push without the Prota Box.

Photo by Free Grunge Textures – www.freestock.ca