A new company based in San Francisco has combined a computer, a home security system, and a personal assistant into a single device called Angee. The unit can be managed remotely and is able to send out alerts to owner’s smartphones, and features an HD video camera for both day and night use. Once set up, Angee gets to know the habits of family members, activating and deactivating as appropriate. In addition, its video camera revolves around its axis to provide full 360-degree surveillance of the area it is located in, as well as using several passive infrared motion-sensing tags. These tags are small discs that can be attached to doors and windows anywhere in the home, providing complete surveillance coverage. Angee can also be untethered from its power supply as it contains an integrated rechargeable battery which keeps it operating for another eight hrs without external power – also useful in the event of a power cut. Angee identifies unusual events using a variety of parameters, including motion, access to the home, alterations in background sound, and voice recognition. The device also keeps track of family members in the home via their Bluetooth signal being emitted by their cell phones and by their voices. If Angee senses troublesome activity when homeowners are away, an alert is sent out through WIFI and the internet followed by video streaming from the device. It doesn’t stop there, with Angee including other neat features for example, if rain is forecast, Angee notifies house members to close the windows. Now all we need it to do is actually close the windows itself…maybe a future iteration!
