Sen.se set out in 2016 to develop a series of diminutive yet powerful smart peanut-shaped sensors aimed at addressing a single issue at an affordable price. Its first sensors, the GuardPeanut and the ThermoPeanut launched last year for $29. On Wednesday, Sen.se announced the availability of two new SensePeanut sensors at CES 2017, one for tracking sleep and another for medications, both of which are slated to launch this spring, also at $29.
The concept behind the SensePeanut line is to develop a sensor that addresses a specific need. With the GuardPeanut the goal was to help keep track of your belongings, and the ThermoPeanut a simple way to track temperature just about anywhere you need to. With the SleepPeanut the idea is the same: it tracks motion and body heat, and paired with Sen.se’s app can wake up a user at an optimal time based on their sleep cycles.
Similarly, the MedPeanut attaches to a pill bottle and tracks motion. Users set a dosage frequency within the app, and are alerted via a notification if they forget to take their medication.
In all cases, the sensors last about four months on a single CR2032 battery, the company says. Each type of sensor has a specific color, too — GuardPeanut in green, ThermoPeanut in red, SleepPeanut in navy and MedPeanut in emerald — but a second color option is included in the box in case you have two sensors of the same type.
Sen.se’s sensors certainly are compelling in the sense that they are extremely low-cost, yet do many things competing devices do at a much higher price. For example, with the SleepPeanut, its functionality is nearly the same as “Internet of Things” devices three and four times its price. But that appears to be the point: making IoT affordable to everyone.
“By creating a family of products with clearly designated outcomes, we have brought the benefits of the connected life to people without the need for complicated integrated hardware or costly price tags,” founder and CEO Rafi Haladjian said in an earlier statement. “Now with a SensePeanut and any smartphone or tablet, everyday objects can be given super powers to better allow people to take control of their home and their lives.”
