Padlocks are useful since they help secure things such as your bicycle, cabinets, lockers, garage doors, the back gate, and etc. However for the most part they all require a different set of keys, meaning that you will need to keep multiple sets and sometimes misplacing them could prove to be rather troublesome. That’s the sort of situation that the folks at OckCorp are hoping to address with their TEO padlock, an electronic padlock that allows it to be locked or unlocked using your smartphone and through the use of Bluetooth technology as well.
Instead of carrying extra sets of keys, why not use what we have in our pockets, which are our smartphones, right? Not only can the TEO locks be unlocked using Bluetooth, but they can also be shared, meaning that if you’re not at home and you have friends or family visiting, you can tell them to let themselves in by sharing with them the “key” to your TEO lock. The accompanying app also lets you modify permissions, such as who has access, how long will they have access for, and at the same time lets you monitor who has been using the key which might come in handy at work places to know who is going in and out of the building, who was the last one to lock up, and so on.
So what happens when you lose your smartphone or if the TEO lock runs out of battery? In the case of the former, it’s as simple as re-pairing your new phone with the lock, and according to OckCorp, they are designing a special fob that can be used to “jump start” the lock in the event it runs out of battery. It is a pretty interesting idea and at the moment, the TEO lock is a Kickstarter project that is seeking funding, so if you’d like to learn more or check it out, head on over to its Kickstarter page for the details.
Filed in . Read more about Kickstarter.