Use Your Old Smartphone as an IoT Device to Secure Your House

Kochi/New Delhi: An innovative home security device developed by a company at Kochi-based Startup Village has raised nearly 89,000 US Dollars from 690 backers on the online crowd funding platform Kickstarter.

Mindhelix’s Rico is a sensor-equipped hardware that works by itself or with a spare smartphone to detect and alert users about changes inside a home, for example, in temperature, humidity, noise levels or movement, and the presence of smoke, carbon monoxide or cooking gas. It allows users to watch live video feeds of the rooms and can also be used to control home appliances remotely.

The Kickstarter campaign for Rico, which ends on October 30, has already raised nearly 89% of its target of 100,000 US dollars. Mindhelix is hoping to meet the target in the four remaining days and take the device into production.

People can pre-order Rico online and contribute to the success of the campaign by logging on to http://kck.st/1pmEqzN.

Kallidil Kalidasan, the company’s CEO, says Rico is a cheaper and smarter replacement for a multitude of heavy and expensive home security hardware currently in use. Its added advantage is that it allows people to reuse their old or discarded smartphones.

“Rico uses your old smartphone as its brain and eyes.  And it is very easy to use; all you need to do is install an app in your old smartphone, insert it into Rico and turn it on to activate your smarthome security companion,” said Kalidasan.

“Our Kickstarter campaign has been well received globally and we hope to hit our target in a couple of days. We thank everyone who has come forward to support us,” he added.

Startup Village Chairman Sanjay Vijayakumar said “at Startup Village, we aim to create awareness among our people that young innovators are being backed internationally. We need to give them support at home from early adopters who can help the campaign reach target by raising 11,000 US dollars more in four days. “

Rico uses the existing hardware of smartphones — such as HD cameras, microphones, 3G and WiFi connectivity and processor — to offer functions over and above its own sensor capabilities. Smartphones with Android 2.2 & above and Apple devices with iOS 6 & above can be plugged into Rico. It supports devices with screen size of 5.7 inch or below.

Kalidasan said the company has put in extra effort with the design of the product. Unlike the usual boxy electronic devices, Rico has a quirky, fun design and comes in bright appealing colours.

Once it meets the funding target, Mindhelix will finalise the engineering design, analytics, production and supply details. It hopes to ship the product to its Kickstarter backers by November 2015.