Scroll is a cheap and easy alternative to spendy automated blinds

By Drew Prindle February 27, 2014

scroll cheap easy alternative spendy automated blinds screen shot 2014 02 27 at 12 32 34 pm — Image used with permission by copyright holder

For much too long, automated shades have been a luxury that only a rare few have enjoyed. Even with DIY home automation tech becoming more and more common, installing blinds that will raise or lower at the press of a button still requires a fair bit of time, effort, and money.

Scroll, a new product on the invention incubator website Quirky, aims to solve this problem and bring automatic shades to the masses. Invented by brothers Jono and Michael Schafler, the device is basically a little motorized pulley that can connect to your home network. It mounts on your wall with just a couple small screws and connects to the chain of any existing roller shade (unfortunately, it isn’t designed to work with regular draw-cord blinds). Once you’ve got it all set up, you can use the accompanying Scroll app to roll your shades up or down, and even configure them to open or close on a schedule, so you can wake up to natural light every morning.

At this point the device is just a prototype, so there’s no word on whether it will be compatible with Z-Wave, Zigbee, or any other major home automation standards, but we’re sure that it’ll at least have Wi-Fi baked in, since it operates on your home network. And since it’s just a prototype, it should go without saying that you can’t buy it just yet – but the product’s design has been finalized and all that’s left is manufacturing. No production timeline has been given, nor when exactly this might be available to consumers, but we’ll keep you updated.

For the time being, you can find out more about Scroll and its designers by heading over to Quirky. If you offer up some feedback, you can even help determine what the final asking price will be!

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Topics

Internet of Things (IoT)

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Drew Prindle is an award-winning writer, editor, and storyteller who currently serves as Senior Features Editor for Digital…

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