Machine learning-powered smart thermostat enables intelligent management of heating systems

As global energy prices rise and sustainability becomes a household priority, smart home solutions that balance comfort, efficiency, and environmental responsibility are increasingly in demand. The EU, for example, has published reports showing that sustained high global energy prices are having serious implications for European households, pushing up power bills and creating affordability challenges[1]. Wider research indicates that costs aside, the leading drivers of consumers’ smart home purchase decisions are performance, convenience, energy savings, and sustainability[2].

In a global smart home market valued at $84.5 billion in 2024 and projected to reach $116.4 billion by 2029[3], this all adds up to a significant opportunity for innovative developers of energy-efficient solutions.

Traditional thermostats, for example, often fall short in these critical areas. They heat entire homes regardless of whether rooms are occupied, and their rigid schedules fail to account for the unpredictable nature of daily life. No surprise then that smart products represent 77 percent of sales in the thermostat control market – behind only televisions and robot vacuum cleaners in share of overall sales volume taken by smart products[4].

A smart thermostat for water heating radiators

In response to these market conditions and the limitations of existing products, eCozy, a Germany-based company that has twice been awarded the prestigious RedDot Design Award, developed a next-generation smart thermostat for water heating radiators. 

By integrating machine learning (ML), Cloud connectivity, and interoperability with emerging smart home standards, the eCozy 2.0 platform empowers users to intelligently manage heating systems, save money, and reduce their carbon footprint.

“The primary benefit of eCozy 2.0 is the significant energy and cost savings – by heating only when and where it is needed the system can reduce heating bills by up to 30 percent, and eliminate the common problem of heating empty rooms or overheating occupied ones,” explains Andre Kholodov, CEO of eCozy GmbH.

The eCozy 2.0 system comprises three key components: The smart thermostat device, the central unit (gateway), and the mobile app. The thermostat physically replaces the existing thermostatic head on a water heating radiator. It contains a stepper motor with plunger to open and close the radiator valve, two integrated high-precision temperature sensors, an optional external temperature sensor (via Matter-over-Thread), a high-precision humidity sensor, and a high-accuracy microphone.

The central unit connects to the home’s Internet router via Wi-Fi, serving as a gateway to the Cloud and as a Matter controller for seamless smart home integration. The mobile app provides remote management, heating schedule customization, and real-time energy consumption monitoring. Together, these components provide a user-friendly way to create comfort zones in individual rooms.

Enhanced efficiency, convenience and sustainability

The eCozy 2.0 solution is designed around enhancing both efficiency and convenience. Users can install thermostats on multiple radiators for zone-based temperature regulation, ensuring each room is heated according to preference. Intelligent heating schedules can be set through the app, allowing users to customize daily and weekly heating routines based on their activities, such as warming up the bathroom in the morning, lowering the heat when they are at work, and ensuring the living room is cozy in the evening.

Remote access is another defining feature, giving homeowners the ability to control their heating systems anytime and anywhere with an Internet connection. The system’s open window detection function identifies sudden drops in temperature and temporarily closes the radiator valve to prevent wasting energy by attempting to heat a ventilated space.

Beyond the energy and cost savings, the system enhances comfort and convenience by allowing for tailored room-by-room heating and easy adjustments via the app or any major voice assistant platform like Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit, and Google Assistant. For users already invested in smart home technology, eCozy 2.0 integrates seamlessly with other Matter-compatible devices, adding to the overall value of the ecosystem.

By reducing energy use and associated carbon emissions, the system also contributes to environmental sustainability. It offers detailed insight into energy consumption patterns, empowering users to make more informed choices and exercise greater control over expenses as well as environmental impact.

In addition, eCozy 2.0 is designed with longevity in mind. Its long battery life and capability to receive over-the-air firmware updates extend the lifespan of the device and reduce electronic waste. By combining user savings with eco-conscious design, the product contributes to both household efficiency and broader environmental goals.

Enabling advanced features and ML capability

At the heart of eCozy 2.0 is the Nordic Semiconductor nRF5340 dual-core multiprotocol SoC. The nRF5340 provides the processing power, wireless connectivity, and ML capabilities that enable advanced smart thermostat features. Many of eCozy 2.0’s functionalities are enabled through a combination of on-device ML, powered by the nRF5340 SoC, and advanced AI algorithms running on the eCozy Cloud backend. 

The system can thereby learn user behavior patterns and optimize heating schedules automatically, detect unusual heating activity or potential issues like a radiator malfunction, and infer room occupancy more accurately for smarter adjustments.

Over time, predictive maintenance capabilities can anticipate potential device issues before failures occur. The integration of the high-accuracy microphone with on-device ML processing allows for advanced acoustic event recognition, such as identifying the sound of a smoke alarm and triggering an immediate alert to the user’s smartphone. Moreover, the Nordic SoC supports Matter-over Thread, ensuring that the thermostat is fully interoperable with the latest smart home standards.

Machine learning elevates eCozy 2.0 from a programmable thermostat to an adaptive and intelligent heating system. Personalized comfort is achieved through learning when residents are typically home, away, or asleep, and automatically adjusting heating schedules to match these patterns.

“The machine learning capabilities of Nordic’s nRF5340 SoC enable a number of our eCozy 2.0 smart thermostat solution’s key features and functionalities, such as anomaly detection and adaptive heating schedules,” says Kholodov.

“Furthermore, the comprehensive Nordic nRF Connect SDK [Software Development Kit] provides a ready-made, integrated environment with an RTOS [Zephyr], protocol stacks [Matter, Zigbee, Bluetooth LE], hardware abstraction layers, drivers, libraries, and application samples. This saves significant development time compared to building these components from scratch.”

For households looking to prioritize the combination of comfort, cost-efficiency, and sustainability, eCozy 2.0 delivers a compelling solution that embodies the future of smart home automation.

References:

1. European Union, Evaluating impacts on households and industry: 2024 edition
2. NielsenIQ, Smart home outlook: The demand and price dynamics shaping the market into 2025
3. MarketsandMarkets, Smart Home Market Research Report: 2024 Overview
4. NielsenIQ, Smart home outlook: The demand and price dynamics shaping the market into 2025