Smart home tech is all the rage at CES this year, and Netatmo is banking on the trend with its latest Internet of Things offering – the Welcome camera.
Its fledgling snapper is the first smart home camera to make use of ‘revolutionary face recognition technology’, allowing it to recognise individual family members.
What’s more, upon recognition the camera will then send the names of people it sees to the user’s smartphone, as well as notifying home-owners of any unknown faces.
This means you can set the camera up to let you know when a child is home from school, or whether an elderly relative made it home safe.
So impressive is the Welcome camera that it picked up four accolades at the 2015 CES Innovation Awards, winning ‘Smart Home’, ‘Home Appliances’, ‘Digital Imaging’, and ‘Tech for a better World’ categories.
Fred Potter, Netatmo’s CEO and Founder, said: “Netatmo is proud to present Welcome. Its outstanding technology makes today’s smart homes even smarter.”
“Welcome addresses two major consumer needs: to know when their loved ones are home and to be aware if a stranger breaks into their residence.”
He added: “Welcome brings peace of mind to all family members.”
Netatmo hopes to assuage concerns over your home being surreptitiously broadcast over the net, promising that no data would be stored in the cloud.
Instead, the camera stores its data to a local SD card, with smartphone access secured by what Netatmo describes as ‘a bank-level encrypted connection.’
Related: Nest announces smart home partnerships at CES
As far as specs go, you’re looking at a full HD camera good for ‘any light condition’, with night vision ‘guaranteed’ thanks to the built-in infrared LED.
Welcome also boasts a 130 degree field-of-view, and won’t look hideous atop your porch thanks to its anodised aluminium chassis.
The camera will be available from Q2 2015, although pricing and rollout plans remain elusive for now.
Check out the video below:
