I’m beginning to think that there are some real advantages to the “Internet of Things”. Just last night I was getting ready to cook a pasta dish, took some garlic out of the crisper bin, and was disgusted to see that it was quite green and fuzzy. Spoilage is a bad thing, as is not knowing when you’re running out of items in your refrigerator. A new smart device from Smarter called the FridgeCam (US$149, available for pre-order) wants to take your old fridge and turn it into much more than just a hiding place for fuzzy garlic.
Instead of spending a lot more money on a connected refrigerator like those made by most of the major appliance manufacturers now, the idea is that you can give your current fridge a dash of intelligence with the addition of FridgeCam. It attaches to the door of any refrigerator, letting you see inside the fridge from anywhere with an internet connection. But it does much more than provide food-based entertainment for the terminally bored…
There’s an app associated with Smarter FridgeCam, so you can get reminders of expiry dates for food. The device and app also work hand in hand to provide temperature alerts, letting you know if your kid has left the door open again. The FridgeCam actually uses recognition software to notify you when something is removed from your fridge, and can add both expired and removed items to a replenishment list for restocking.
The app even provides recipe suggestions based on the current contents of your fridge – right now, I think it would suggest something with carrots, tangerines, and Tandoori sauce…
The idea behind FridgeCam is actually quite noble — to reduce food waste. Worldwide, 1.3 billion metric tonnes of food are wasted. The expiry date tracking capabilities alone have been tested to reduce food waste by over 50%.
We hope to get our hands on a Smarter FridgeCam for testing in the near future.
