Skip to main content

Smart flooring tiles can track your steps and and generate power for your home

What if the ground underneath you could monitor your every move? What would that mean for smart home systems and the kinds of advanced, modern facilities that scrutinize everyone’s behavior as they move through a public or business space?

In terms of public awareness, we still haven’t come too far with smart flooring. Google the term, and you’ll see more about making smart choices in buying carpet, laminate, and other materials that you will about flooring choices that keep tabs on you. However, some of these smart flooring technologies are coming to the market, and they’ll have a big impact on individual smart home systems and larger business and government applications.

Recommended Videos

One company working on smart flooring is Future Shape; this firm’s products, like SensFloor, have been installed in places like nursing homes and other businesses. How does it work? A very thin layer of sensors is installed into the textiles, and radio signals send that data to a central data warehouse. In a nursing home in France, the nurse’s station receives an alert when the smart flooring detected someone had fallen.

In addition to tracking the movements of building inhabitants, some of the newer products claim to be able to generate electricity as well. PowerLeap flooring is the brainchild of Elizabeth Redmond, which applies piezoelectricity to intelligent flooring models. She imagined joggers in Central Park powering safety lighting as they pounded the pavement.

The idea is already in place in some buildings, thanks to Pavegen. You may have stepped on its squares at London’s Heathrow Airport. A couple of AP environmental science students got some installed at their school in Bloomington, Indiana. Each tile has a sensor that detects movement, and at the same time, it produces some amount of energy by changing the magnetic field underneath. 

“Every time someone steps on the tile, they generate 7 watts of power,” creator Laurence Kemball-Cook told The Guardian. “The energy is stored within batteries, and then used to power lighting when it’s needed. It’s an off-grid power source for cities.”

While the flooring looks normal enough, it hides two things: lots of circuits and a big price tag. It costs over $1,600 (1,250 pounds) to cover a square meter with Pavegen. Don’t toss out your Fitbit just yet.

Justin Stoltzfus
Former Digital Trends Contributor
This smart display alternative can now use AI to plan all your meals
The Skylight Cal Max installed on a wall.

Skylight is a smart home company that produces a variety of smart display alternatives, such as the Skylight Cal Max. These serve as a central hub for all your daily planning -- they’re primarily used as a digital calendar, but you can also use them to track chores, make lists, or meal prep. That last aspect just became much more exciting, as Skylight is officially introducing Sidekick, an AI-powered assistant that can plan all your meals in just a few minutes.

Sidekick is a new AI feature for Skylight devices. It’s capable of generating personalized recipes based on your budget, family size, and dietary restrictions, and it’ll even create a shopping list and load up step-by-step cooking instructions. Skylight hopes the new feature will save families 10 hours every month, as they’ll no longer need to worry about the logistics surrounding meal prep.

Read more
Echo Show 21 vs. Echo Show 15 (2nd Gen): which is best for your smart home?
Amazon's new Echo Show 21 and updated Echo Show 15.

Amazon just released two new smart displays -- the completely new Echo Show 21 and the updated Echo Show 15 (2nd Gen). Both are premium options for your home, offering powerful speakers, Full HD displays, and heaps of useful apps so you can stream videos or check your schedule. But which is the better option? The gigantic Echo Show 21, or the updated Echo Show 15 (2nd Gen)? Here’s a closer look at both to help you decide.
Pricing and design

The Echo Show 21 is the biggest member of the Echo Show family, and it’s got the price tag to prove it. Clocking in at $400, it’s a hefty investment. Its design is pretty premium, however, and it can be either mounted on a wall or placed on a table with an adjustable stand (sold separately). The Echo Show 15 looks much the same, though it’s quite a bit smaller. But from a design standpoint, it’s essentially a shrunken version of the Echo Show 21. It too can be mounted on a wall or placed on a table with an optional adjustable stand. But at $300, it’s much easier on the wallet.

Read more
This tiny smart puck can control your smart home without the need for mobile apps
The Linxura with four buttons on the screen.

My home is overrun with smart gadgets, and the main way I interact with them is through my smartphone. This is usually a robust way to control my gadgets, as my phone is never far from my side -- whether I need to toggle my smart lights, adjust my air purifier, or change the thermostat, my smartphone lets me tackle most of these tasks in a matter of seconds. However, having a physical button to perform these actions would certainly be preferred. Instead of diving into apps and wading through menus and automations, a physical controller would perform actions at the press of a button, much like a remote works for a TV.

That’s the idea behind the Linxura Smart Controller -- a disc-shaped object that lets you perform a long list of actions at the press of a button. After syncing it with your smart devices, you’ll no longer need your companion mobile apps. Just tap or double-tap its outer ring, and you can toggle hundreds of different products. I’ve been testing it out in my home, and while I think it’s a fun device, it falls short in a few areas. But if you’re craving a physical remote for your smart home, there’s good reason to take a closer look at the innovative gadget.
Simple, but tedious setup

Read more