Skip to main content

Nebula Mat greets visitors to your home by sanitizing their footwear

The year 2020 made us all hyperaware of sanitation, and it also made us realize just how dirty shoes are. Have you ever thought about how much your shoes touch that you wouldn’t put your hands on? The team at Nebula did, and their research is just plain disturbing. A study shows that a single shoe can carry as many as 440,000 bacteria — critters you would not want inside your home.

The Nebula Mat may be the answer. This doormat is equipped with an array of sensors that detect when you walk up, and it then releases a fine mist of bacteria-killing spray to sanitize your footwear before you take one step inside the house. There’s a built-in drying area that wicks away any excess spray, so you don’t have to worry about tracking it through the house.

The drying area is made with environmentally friendly — but most importantly, washable — microfiber cloths. When they become just a little bit too dirty (like after a rainy day with a lot of mud), just remove them and toss them in the washing machine.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

The spray solution is medical grade but is not made of harmful chemicals like bleach. In fact, it’s registered with the EPA. You don’t want to drink it, but the solution is not nearly as harmful as other options on the market. What’s important is that it is strong enough to kill dangerous bacteria like those that cause meningitis as well as the E. coli bacteria.

The Nebula Mat is designed to be just as stylish as it is effective, with a modern aesthetic that fits with most homes. Its weather-resistant design makes it perfect for use on covered porches and pathways. At 21 inches wide by 33 inches long, that mat can easily accommodate both of your feet at the same time, regardless of how large your shoes might be.

The Nebula Mat isn’t lightweight, though. At roughly 20 pounds, it won’t be blown off your porch. If you run out of cleaning spray, Nebula will ship more to your home — you just need to order it. The Nebula Mat has an estimated retail price of $250, with a Kickstarter campaign scheduled to start next month.

Editors' Recommendations

Patrick Hearn
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Patrick Hearn writes about smart home technology like Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, smart light bulbs, and more. If it's a…
How to convert your window blinds into smart blinds

Smart homes are more popular than ever, with companies like Google, Amazon, Ring, Arlo, and other big brands churning out new products at regular intervals. Most people have heard of smart displays and smart light bulbs -- but smart blinds are yet to gain the same traction as these other categories.

However, smart blinds can become an integral part of any smart home. Along with giving you an easy way to manipulate your shades, they can help you save money by allowing (or limiting) light to enter your home and moderate its temperature.

Read more
Home Depot’s Hubspace is a great way to start building your smart home
The Hubspace app shown in front of a living room.

Building a smart home can be intimidating. Not only do you have to figure out which products are best for your needs, but you also need to set them up using an accompanying mobile app and sync them with the rest of your gadgets. It's all a bit confusing for smart home newcomers -- but Home Depot has largely streamlined the process with its Hubspace platform.

Billed as a "smart home platform that makes smart home products easy to set up and control," it sounds like a great fit for smart home newbies. And after going hands-on with a few products in its growing lineup, I can say it definitely hits all the right notes.
Streamlined and simple

Read more
Google rolls out new Nest Cam features to Google Home for web
Nest Cams on a counter.

While many users access Google Home on their smartphone or smart display, the platform is also available via web browser. The web-based Google Home experience wasn't exactly the best way to access your smart devices, but that's rapidly changing as Google rolls out new updates to the client -- the latest of which adds a ton of new ways to access your Nest Cams.

Google began rolling out the update late last week, and most users should now have access to the improved Google Home for web experience. The big draw is access to your Nest Cam history and the option to download clips. Prior to this update, it was impossible to view recorded clips via Google Home for web, forcing you to instead jump into the official Google Home app.

Read more