When it comes to basic home security components like motion and vibration sensors, power is the main concern. Permanent power like cabling is a hassle and expensive, and that’s not to mention it is at the mercy of power cuts. Sure, you can always opt for battery-powered alternatives, but the battery life is far from ideal, which result in another form of hassle: changing batteries or charging the individual devices. Just when we thought we have to live with such ‘inconveniences’, a Germany startup Globio UG came up with a brilliant home and personal security suite that’s powered by, wait for this… potato. Yup. You heard us right. Potato, as in the vegetable.
Sounds pretty surreal right? It is, but at the same time, these potato-powered devices are very real. The reason why it is able to do so is because these individual devices, which include a motion sensor (#PIA), a vibration sensor (#MAGGIE), a tracker (#TONI), an air quality monitor (#SHANE), and a personal alarm system (#JOY), require very, very, very tiny amount of energy to keep them going. It even comes with a contraption packed with copper and zinc coated steel pins that could provide 0.2 mW of electric charges when a cooked potato is plugged to it. And if you choose to go on conventional batteries, which it can, the components could be kept juiced for anything from one, up to seven years.
All Globio sensors connect to your smartphone or home automation center via Bluetooth LE and uses a companion app to let you manage them. The product is yet to be reality; you can buy it just yet, but we do have a feeling that potato-powered gadgets like such will be a huge hit. Honestly, power is a big issue with today’s gadgets, more so for security products and so, when a promise of ultra low consumption product comes along, especially one that promotes sustainability, folks will be all over it.
We are not sure when it will hit Indiegogo, so in the mean time, you can learn more over about Globio UG on their official website. There’s a couple of product teaser videos, though, which you can catch below.
submitted via TIP US page.
