Microsoft, Google and other tech giants have announced a new partnership to produce wireless door and motion-sensing cameras for homes and businesses.
The new product is called SmartThings, and it’s available today in the U.S. and Canada.
The partnership aims to simplify the design and manufacture of the cameras, which could potentially reduce manufacturing costs and make them more attractive to companies that want to tap into the emerging IoT market.
SmartThings is a new, “open platform” that Microsoft and Google are developing to integrate the camera sensors into devices in order to enable better control over the sensors, said Dan Tumulty, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at Michigan Technological University.
The SmartThings platform will allow manufacturers to make sensors that can be used with a variety of devices, including smart locks, smart thermostats and more.
The company has already partnered with Nest to produce sensor packages for smart home devices.
Smart Things has the potential to dramatically improve the ability for companies to collect, store and share information with other companies.
The sensor data could be used to create smart home automation systems that could automate heating, air conditioning, air-conditioning systems, or even door and window doors.
“I think it will be really useful to use sensors to control devices that can interact with other devices, and to automate devices that have no control,” Tumouths said.
Smart Home Sensor KitWith the SmartThings product, SmartThings will enable companies to make devices that communicate with sensors via a single interface.
In other words, these sensors will communicate with the sensors using a single API, enabling developers to build smart home systems that work together.
SmartThings sensors will also be integrated into products, such as home security systems and smart appliances.
“It allows companies to have more control over how they connect their sensors and products to one another,” said Adam Hirsch, an associate professor of computer science at the University of Colorado Boulder.
“It’s going to be a big step in the development of sensors in general.”
The SmartThings sensor packages will also work with existing sensors and devices, which can make it easy to control and interact with sensors.
Smart Home Sensor Kits that include sensors from other companies can include sensors that are similar in size to SmartThings cameras, and the sensors can communicate with other sensors using the same API.
This makes it easy for developers to integrate sensors into existing products.
For example, Nest’s sensors are smaller than SmartThings’ cameras, but Nest has said they will be compatible with the Smart Things sensor package, which is compatible with all of Nest’s products.
The Nest sensors will then communicate with SmartThings and other sensors.
Hirsch added that he is particularly excited about the potential of the sensors for home automation.
The sensors will allow companies to use SmartThings devices to automate heating and air conditioning systems.
“The sensors can control the heat or air conditioning system in a way that would be really hard for other systems to do,” Hirsch said.
“If you are using SmartThings or Nest sensors, the sensor is going to work with any other sensor.”