The world in which we live is getting smarter by the day. New technologies and advancements are constantly pushing the envelope, and two new “smart” smoke alarms announced from the home furnishing company Roost are adding to these advances.
According to TechCrunch.com, the project originally started as a Kickstarter campaign in 2014 when the company enlisted the help of WiFi technology gurus Roel Peeters and James Blackwell to create a smart nine-volt battery that could be plugged right into existing smoke alarms.
After seeing the success that project had, the group decided to begin work on entirely new smart smoke alarms, and now they’re set to come to fruition and make their way into the market. In that sense, the developers don’t really see it as a maiden voyage into a new product but rather more of an advancement of their older one.
“It’s that kind of maturity and learning that we’re now bringing to the market with the smart smoke alarm,” Peeters said. “It’s not exactly a new product introduction, because we’re taking the lessons learned from that first product and really bringing that all together in the new products.”
Smoke alarms, of course, serve an incredibly important function in households, businesses, and establishments of all varieties. They typically have a lifespan of about 10 years. These new smart smoke alarms will provide the same functions, but with the added bonus of being able to control, check in, and connect via smartphone from virtually anywhere on the planet.
The two new models are the RSA-200 and RSA-400. The 200 baseline model is a fire and smoke detection alarm that runs $60. The 400 model will cost $20 more, but it is also a carbon monoxide detector. Those prices are significantly less than what you’ll find in smart smoke alarms from companies like Nest.
“If you look at the price points they’re at, it’s targeted at the one-percent,” Peeters said. “At Roost we’ve had a much more democratic focus on making the smart home affordable. We started with a battery you could use to retrofit [an existing smoke alarm], and we’re following that same thread here.”