Most of us have unused smartphone lying around collecting dust but the Rico Kickstarter breathes new life into our old devices, using spare smartphones to power its smartphone security device. If you feel bad about letting your miniature supercomputer go to waste at the bottom of your sock drawer, then the Rico Kickstarter may assuage some of that guilt by putting your old handset to use.
The cute, dog-shaped Rico device can be used on its own but when pairing it with a spare smartphone gives it many more uses. The Rico device on its own can detect motion, temperature, humidity, smoke and carbon monoxide levels, as well as control smart sockets via a Rico mobile app.
But when paired with a spare smartphone, the Rico uses the smartphone’s HD camera, microphone, loudspeaker, 3G connectivity, W-iFi and processor to act as the brain and eyes of the device. Powering a Rico with a smartphones turns it into a surveillance device that can be control with voice commands.
The video introducing Rico on its Kickstarter page begins with the fun fact: “The smartphone in your pocket has more computing power than the spacecraft that took Apollo 11 astronauts to the moon”. We often take for granted the amazing computing power of our hand-held devices by sitting on them and replacing them every 18 months.
The Rico Kickstarter, citing the IDC, says that of the over 280 million smartphones sold last year, many will be replaced without being recycled and more than 90 percent of these will be in perfect working order.
Of course, it’s better to reuse than to recycle – though the best would be to reduce – and the Rico Kickstarter lets users repurpose their old smartphones. Rico was created by Palo Alto-based startup MindHelix, makers of the sentinel mobile security app. The Kickstarter hoping to raise $100,000 by Oct. 29. So far, the Rico Kickstarter has raised $32,933 from $360 backers.
In order to be among the first to possibly get the Rico smarthome device, you can pledge $99 or more to get a featured Rico. A contribution of $10 extra will give you a choice of a red, blue or yellow Rico, while an extra $49 will also give you a smart socket that can be powered by the Rico.
You can power your Rico with smartphones running Android 2.2 and above and Apple devices with iOS 6 and above. Rico will be able to support devices with screen sizes measuring 5.7-inch or below, which includes the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and new iPhone 6 Plus. The Rico is not expected to ship to Kickstarter backers until end of next year. So even if you don’t have a spare smartphone lying around now, you probably will by the time your Rico gets to you.
