I love Beagles and I love home automation systems, so I essentially had to love Beagle, a smart sensor that monitors your home’s health and find ways to improve your own health.
Beagle’s premise is that our home environment is critical to our health, considering we spend most of our time indoors (sad, but true). We don’t realize how air quality, humidity levels, lights, air pressure, and noise can be the cause of headaches, colds, poor sleep quality, and other issues. Beagle goes beyond smart thermostats to measure more than just the temperature of your home. Each Beagle, like the dog breed, is trained for a specific sensing task, so you can customize what you want to monitor.
Currently, Beagle offers seven different sensors, including:
Air Quality
This sensor monitors CO2 levels to prevent drowsiness, headaches, and dizziness.
Temperature
Create a comfortable environment for optimal sleeping or working.
Outdoor Noise
Monitor the amount of noise from traffic and construction that could be disrupting your sleep or relaxation.
Air Pressure
Receive an alert anytime the air pressure changes to avoid worsening low blood pressure or causing migraines.
Humidity
Humidity can cause mold and a generally uncomfortable environment. This sensor keeps humidity levels at the optimum level.
Indoor Noise
Monitor the noise level of pets and children when you’re away from home.
Light
Check in to make sure you didn’t leave any lights on when you left the house, and see if any outdoor light is affecting your sleep.
As each Beagle sensor is just $69, you can purchase multiple sensors to place throughout your home, depending on what rooms you want to monitor. The sensors were also designed to be stackable, in case you want to monitor multiple senses in a single room.
And, of course, what’s a home automation system without an impressive app to control it all. The Beagle app allows you to set alerts so you can make changes when you’re home, like opening a window or closing a door. When you’re away from home, you can monitor noise levels and other elements to make sure your home is safe and secure.
What impresses me most about Beagle is its simplicity. Each sensor does one explicit thing and is easy to set up. All you have to do is plug in the station’s USB to a power source, connect it to your WiFi network, pair with your smartphone, and voila! Everything is controlled via Bluetooth. There aren’t dozens of wires of a complicated interface. Plus, the Beagle runs on two AAA batteries, which only have to be replaced once a year.
Beagle is currently still in its Kickstarter phase, so we’ll have to see if this dog makes it to market. I, for one, certainly hope so.
Photo by: Ruth Ellison
