Output devices in the IoT ecosphere can be just about anything, from a simple LED to a full video system. Other types of output include actuators, stepper motors, speakers and audio systems, industrial valves, and so on. It stands to reason that these devices need various control systems of differing complexity. Depending on the type of output and the use case they serve, it also should be expected that much of the control and processing needs to be located at the edge, or close to the device (versus complete control in the cloud). A video system, for example, can stream data from cloud providers, but needs output hardware and buffering capabilities at the edge.

In general, output systems can require substantial energy to convert to mechanical movement, thermal energy, or even light. A small hobbyist solenoid to control fluid or gas flow can require 9 to 24 VDC and draw 100 mA to operate reliably and produce five Newton's of force. Industrial solenoids operate in hundreds of volts.