At CES 2017 this year, it was clear that there is heavy focus on smarter home appliances where you can control your devices with a smartphone or even your voice. However all of this is based on the assumption that you buy new appliances to take advantage of the technology, and given that it’s not like we swap out appliances like stovetops on an annual basis, what’s one to do?
If you’re looking to save some money, you’re in luck as a Kickstarter project for a series of devices called the Inirv React (via Engadget) that lets you retrofit your existing stovetop’s knobs with “smarter” ones. All you have to do is replace them and you’ll be good to go, and this should help protect your home from fires.
Basically how it works is that the smart knobs are linked with a sensor unit that is placed in the kitchen and on the ceiling. When the sensor detects that there is gas or smoke after prolonged inactivity, it will automatically get the knobs to shut off the stove. This means that if you left something to cook but forgot about it, it’ll turn the stove off to prevent any further damage.
The knobs can be used to set inactivity timers and there are light cues to let you know how much time is left. The Inirv React itself isn’t cheap as it is priced at $199 to get the standard kit with four knobs and the sensor, but we reckon it’ll probably be a lot cheaper than buying a new smart stovetop, right?
Filed in . Read more about Connected Objects, Crowdfunding, IoT (Internet of Things) and Kickstarter.