Two former Google Glass engineers have teamed up to create Gate, a smart lock which they are claiming to be the first all-in-one-solution to home access.
Enhancing your deadbolt lock capabilities with smartphone connectivity, a motion detection 720p camera, built-in speaker and microphone, and LED-lit key code options, it is aiming to be the ultimate smart lock.
“We started with the experience that we wanted to create,” Gate CEO Ehsan Saeedi told Digital Trends. “For example, as a user I don’t want to always have to wait around at home for packages, a cleaner, or repair person to turn up. I started asking myself how I could make that experience better and what would I need in a device on my front door to solve that problem?”
This problem-centric approach means — unlike some smart locks — Gate feels necessary, rather than a gadget that exists purely to give tech geeks another way to show off. Most of us will have had the discussion of whether or not to hand out our house key to a neighbor or someone else who needs to gain entry at a specific time, but whom we may not want to have permanent access. In addition to the examples Saeedi gave, this could also be an Airbnb guest or your own kid, who does not get their own house key quite yet.
Gate will send you mobile notifications when it detects someone at your door, or when a person presses the lock’s call button. You can then see and speak with them remotely via the app and open the door for them with the tap of a button. It is also possible to assign temporary or permanent pass codes to visitors, which they can enter themselves.
“We decided to use a key code because not everyone is going to necessarily have access to the Gate app on their phone,” Saeedi said. “The addition of a camera also gives you extra confidence and trust about who’s arriving at your house and who is leaving.”
Right now, Gate Labs is raising funds on Indiegogo, where a $209 pledge will get you an early bird Gate smart lock. Shipping is scheduled for March 2017.