One of top 15 startups of the TechCrunch Beijing 2015 startup competition is Charmcam. Hong Kong based-Charmcam monitors babies for the post 80-90s young parents, not only visually but also smartly. It will be available on Indiegogo this month, according to the company.
Charmcam monitors a baby, and alarms the parents when the baby’s head is covered. The thermal camera checks if the baby is in a normal body temperature with LWIR (Long Wavelength Infra Red) that can pick up temperature measurements from a distance. It also shows the current environment in the room including air quality and light in a dashboard. To top it off, it also has a lullaby function.
Comparing the product with other with baby product giants, like Withings, 4moms, and Dropcam, founder and CEO Nick Lau said that hardware is not their only source of profit. The business is built off the integration between data and cloud storage with recommendations for baby products.
Lau and his team’s first product was thermal camera, which were sold to universities to be used for inspection for materials, physical parameters, and manufacturing processes. The funds for the Charmcam was from sales of the early thermal cameras.
Lau said that he himself is not a father, and that he got the motivation for the Charmcam when he came across a mother walking with a stroller at the Hong Kong electronics fair expo one year ago. She suggested that the thermal camera to be attached to the cradle, so that she wouldn’t have to wake the child to check and monitor it all the time.
“We don’t see any competitor that is doing the same thing as we do, but need to run fast. Xiaomi is making a home automation camera,” Lau said.
The team is looking to connect to more home automation devices to complement smart homes, like air quality sensor and light bulbs. Ultimately the devices will be connected to Charmcam’s app to create an IoT ecosystem in which parents don’t have to control air conditioner or lights by hand.
Image Credit: Charmcam