What could be better than a robot that protects your home from break-ins? Arizona-based Roambotics took home a win from the Proto Labs Cool Idea! Award for their personal robot, Jr., as well as $65,000 of injected mold parts.
Jr., an autonomous mobile sensor platform, performs security monitoring. It is always actively monitoring an environment for break-ins and intruders and when you’re away. Jr. will roam around your place, observe patterns and notify you via an iOS app or email if something needs your attention. Jr. is designed to be the ultimate home security system with zero installation.
Daniel Stone, Co-founder and COO of Roambotics, talks about the problems with current home security systems, “Traditional security systems typically don’t provide you with a live-video feed of what’s occurring inside your house. They focus on protecting the perimeter of your house using window and door sensors. This invasive installation process is expensive and time-consuming. Further, it’s estimated that traditional security systems have a 94 to 99 percent false alarm rate.“
He and his partner Scott Menor wanted to challenge themselves to change that system, which led them to create Jr. “We wanted to work on a project that was ambitious and seemed impossible to achieve,” Stone said. “Today, most people still consider personal robots to be as much of a fantasy as they were when the Jetsons were made. However, big things have changed underneath and the very technologies that make smartphones as powerful as they are have brought us to the brink of a revolution in robotics.”
The Cool Idea! award will help fund and advance Jr. into becoming a commercial reality. What do you think of the security-enabled robot? Tell us!
Congrats to the Roambotics team! Follow them on Twitter @Roambotics
Launched in 2011, the Proto Labs Cool Idea! Award gives a total of $250,000 in services
each year to entrepreneurs developing new products in the United States and Europe. For more information and to apply, click here.
Graphics provided by Roambotics
Daniel Stone, Co-founder and COO of Roambotics, talks about the problems with current home security systems, “Traditional security systems typically don’t provide you with a live-video feed of what’s occurring inside your house. They focus on protecting the perimeter of your house using window and door sensors. This invasive installation process is expensive and time-consuming. Further, it’s estimated that traditional security systems have a 94 to 99 percent false alarm rate.“
He and his partner Scott Menor wanted to challenge themselves to change that system, which led them to create Jr. “We wanted to work on a project that was ambitious and seemed impossible to achieve,” Stone said. “Today, most people still consider personal robots to be as much of a fantasy as they were when the Jetsons were made. However, big things have changed underneath and the very technologies that make smartphones as powerful as they are have brought us to the brink of a revolution in robotics.”
The Cool Idea! award will help fund and advance Jr. into becoming a commercial reality. What do you think of the security-enabled robot? Tell us!
Congrats to the Roambotics team! Follow them on Twitter @Roambotics
Launched in 2011, the Proto Labs Cool Idea! Award gives a total of $250,000 in services
each year to entrepreneurs developing new products in the United States and Europe. For more information and to apply, click here.
Graphics provided by Roambotics