A smart-battery that connects to your phone via WiFi to tell you when it's low on juice (via the Roost Team)
In a world where everything is 'smart,' here is one more thing:. a 'smart' battery created by the Roost Team which can link up to your home's Wifi to send your smartphone updates on its battery life and more. The battery is intended for fire alarms, and can also be used in carbon monoxide and water leak alarms. The battery helps to ensure that your batteries are always up-to-date so that you can rest easy. The app also notifies you if an alarm goes off and quickly allows you access to call 9-1-1, the local fire department, and more. You'll also get alerts when the low battery beep goes off, and be told ahead of time when to change the batteries.
Currently, there are tons of "smart everythings" in the home market, but they cost a pretty penny. This battery is meant to update your existing technology so that you don't have to pay $100 a pop for a new alarm for every room in your house.
That said, this battery is borderline expensive, if you ask me. The prices start at $35 per Roost smart battery on Kickstarter. They haven't released how much the smart battery will retail for, but hopefully not more than this.
Overall, people seem to really like the idea because it has already raised over $69,000 of its pledged goal of $50,000. So, it's safe to say that you'll see this on the market in the coming year.
The technology seems deceptively simple as it takes a 9-volt battery into the future by fitting it with a microcontroller and a low-power Wifi chip that is powered by a lithium battery. This allows the battery to sync with the Roost Team's app for your smartphone and access your home Wifi network. Then, you can put the battery in any alarm and monitor alerts, updates, and battery life from your phone. It's pretty cool and I imagine building managers are leaping for joy right now.
The Roost battery is supposed to last 5 years – 3 years longer than a standard 9-volt battery. Apparently the microcontroller and lithium cells work tether to manage the power of the battery more effectively and extend the battery's life cycle... hopefully.
Right now, the Roost Team is taking suggestions for new devices that it should support so it can continue to expand. The Kickstarter batch of smart batteries is expected to ship in June 2014.
Their current stretch goal is $150,000. If they can raise this amount, the Roost Team plans on adding a 'snooze' feature to allow users to mute an alarm that you have already.. In other words, if you have one of those sensitive alarms that goes off because you took a steamy shower, then you can silence it from your phone. They may also add a 'share' feature that allows you to share the alerts with family and friends. I guess this is the nice way to tell your spouse to attend to the smoke alarm battery.
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