Have two or three smart home hubs? The Matrix wants to unite them all

The Internet of Things (IoT) revolution is underway, and the Matrix is looking to shake things up. The device is intended to function as a centralized nerve center for the connected home as well as IoT applications, uniting what the company calls a fragmented landscape. AdMobilize announced the device on Kickstarter this week.

The Matrix is designed with fifteen onboard sensors, creating over 32,000 sensor combinations that can be used in everything from facial and gesture recognition to temperature and lock control. The possibilities for the device range from monitoring your small business to unlocking your home’s front door with a simple gesture and more. The device itself is pretty smart, too, with a built-in microphone; speaker; camera; temperature, light, and humidity sensors; accelerometer; barometer; gyroscope; and altimeter.

The Matrix uses an open source framework and includes a software package that makes it easy for developers to create apps that add to the device’s capabilities.

The company sees the Matrix as a way to unite the IoT space. “Today, consumers in the home need to buy two to four different IoT devices at an average of $200 per device if they want a connected home, a monitoring system, a voice activated or gesture controlled device,” said CEO Rodolfo Saccoman in an email to Digital Trends. “The true power of the Matrix is that similar to a smartphone’s app store with millions of apps, our Internet of Things platform will have hundreds of apps that can be running simultaneously on one Matrix.”

The Matrix is currently seeking $100,000 in funding on Kickstarter and is almost one-third of the way there (at the time of publishing). Backers can pledge anywhere from $5 to $7,500+ for rewards ranging from updates and behind-the-scenes looks to a bundle of 30 Matrix devices. A single Matrix comes with a pledge of $199. Units are expected to be delivered by May 2016.

from Planet GS via John Jason Fallows on Inoreader http://ift.tt/1iZGm4v
Stephanie Topacio Long