We're counting down to CES 2018, scouring the virtual show floor for interesting IoT finds. Here are three of them that illustrate where home automation is heading in 2018 and beyond.
It follows our last batch of IoT discoveries at CES that included commentary on which products will or won't make it: 10 New Smart Home Devices + Their Prospects for Success.
These and other promising new products and interesting trends will be presented on Dec. 20, 2017 during CE Pro's most popular Webinar of the year, the Ultimate CES 2018 Preview.
LifeDoor
Start-up LifeDoor makes an automatic door closer that springs into action when it hears a smoke alarm blaring.
During a fire, smoke and toxic gases can incapacitate occupants before they have a chance to escape the burning structure, the company tells us. Closing a door can slow the spread of flames and toxins, buying time for the trapped residents — sometimes minutes, not just seconds.
LifeDoor locks into a door's hinge, but doesn't affect resistance with normal use, says inventor and professional fire fighter Joel Sellinger. In addition to closing the door, the unit illuminates the room with its onboard LED and blares a siren in the event of a fire.
True, lots of companies make smoke-listening devices that blink and blare when an alarm is detected. But this auto door-closing mechanism is pretty cool and could come in handy for everyday use with a little integration. You know, like if you're an important executive and don't want to get up from your desk to grab a little privacy.
Booth: Sands, Hall G – 51938 (Eureka Park)
Gooee + Evrything
In the industrial-lighting sector, Gooee is known for its OEM “smart lighting” ecosystem that brings intelligence to industrial lighting controls. The customers bring their dimmers and fixtures, and Gooee provides the environmental sensing, control and communications components, including Bluetooth beacons. From here, the customer selects a “lighting-as-service” (LaaS) provider to perform analytics and present actionable intelligence to the facilities manager. That data has been known to chop 80% off energy consumption in an industrial complex.
The Gooee technology also can be used to enhance productivity through tunable lighting, provide safety and security through motion sensing, and connect to other devices and systems like RFID tags and supply-chain applications for inventory tracking.
Now Gooee is taking its technology to the next level by owning the whole stack from chipset to analytics to actionable information for the end user. In October 2017, Gooe acquired a $7.5 million stake in Evrything, provider of IoT-enabling services for a wide range of applications including lighting.
The duo says they can now provide “the world's first full-stack lighting operation platform” combining components with LaaS. Gooee calls this IoT suite “Lighting as a Host.”
Evrything isn't just about lighting or industrial applications, though. In 2016 it launched a smart-home platform for helping device manufacturers incorporate IoT for communications with a wide range of cloud-based services.
Evrything: Venetian Suite 29-216, Gooee: Venetian Suite 30-324
Mitipi
At first glance, Mitipi might seem a little silly. It's one of those things that learns your everyday patterns and then simulates it when you leave town so it seems like you're home.
But this “virtual roommate” is pretty cool. It's a standalone box that learns both lighting and sound patterns for any given room. Through an app, you can tell the Wi-Fi enabled device when you're leaving, and it will play back sounds and trigger lighting that might seem normal to any stalker. The sound and lighting come from the device itself — not connected speakers or bulbs — but that's OK because you can spread the Wi-Fi-enabled things around the house where lights might be visible (exterior rooms) or sound might be hearable (near front door, for example).
The simulated routines are randomized around your usual schedule, so someone scouting your neighborhood won't get recognize that the dog barks every day at 2:00 p.m. and the bathroom light stays on from 6:00 to 7:00.
Mitipi can do some special tricks tailored to the environment. For example, if it discerns a pattern of a dog barking after a doorbell rings, then it will simulate barking when the owner's away and someone rings the bell.
Booth: 51934
Sensorwake (now Bescent)
Automated aroma machines started trending at CES 2016, and we'll see at least a dozen of them at CES 2018. But Bescent, which changed its name from Sensorwake just a few months ago) seems to have everything you would ever want in an “olfactory awakening” device.
At CES, Bescent will present its second-generation olfactory alarm clock, adding lighting and music to the senses, and providing a “better, quieter diffuser” than its first-gen model launched on Kickstarter in 2017.
The €99 ($117) product has already sold 20,000 units of its original machines and 200,000 aroma capsules, according to the company.
Optional scents include Espresso, Chocolat, Edge of the Woods, Peppermint, Seaside and Cut Grass, with many more flavors coming soon.
Booth: Sands, Hall G – 50821 (Eureka Park)
Ultimate CES 2018 Preview
Some of these items might look like everyday gadgets that CES is famous for, but they do illustrate how our dumb things, and even our smart things, continue to get smarter and more connected.
At CES 2018, we'll find more products that listen, learn and respond using with native intelligence. Explore these new trends and discover new products and technologies appearing at CES 2018. Join our Webinar on Dec. 20, 2017.
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