Your Wi-Fi can now double as a home security system — Gamgee uses home Wi-Fi networks for intruder detection
Wi-Fi presence detection taken to the next level.
Dutch startup Gamgee has launched a crowdfunding campaign for a home security system that detects physical intruders using your existing Wi-Fi system. Using a home mapping app and artificial intelligence, Gamgee’s Wi-Fi Home Alarm is claimed to offer precision protection by ‘body printing’ the household’s trusted people and pets. Alarms can be configured to detect body prints with unrecognized mass, gait, or movement signatures, thus triggering an alarm.
As you can see in the video above, Gamgee’s tech promises to bring new meaning to the term ‘Wi-Fi security’ in the home thanks to its physical intrusion technology. However, as with all new, unproven tech, we’ll have to see it in action to assess how well it works. However, the theory behind the tech is sound — we have previously reported on Wi-Fi human body detection, with researchers at Carnegie Mellon University detecting the position and poses of humans in a room using off-the-shelf routers. The Gamgee development team seems to have fine-tuned this detection ability to commercialize their novel whole-home alarm system.
In the Gamgee Wi-Fi Home Security FAQ, we learn a little more about the underlying technology and techniques. The tech relies on a mix of Wi-Fi sensing and AI and uses the Channel State Information (CSI) in Wi-Fi signals to detect the intricacies of motion within your house.
When you receive a new Gamgee Wi-Fi Home Alarm, you will need approximately two weeks to train it. During this time, the system will learn family and pet body prints. You might also consider training it on frequent guests. For caregivers, the company claims it can detect when a person or a pet isn’t acting in their usual manner. Thus, the system can detect if someone has had a fall or accident or is in distress.
Mapping your home is another important part of onboarding the Gamgee Wi-Fi Home Security. Users digitally map their house by walking alongside the walls in all the rooms. Around the same time, it will become apparent if and where you need to add extra mesh extenders. On the IndieGogo project page, you will see Gamgee is offering funding perk levels with hardware starting at €295 ($320) for a system with three extenders. This is enough for a ‘medium house’ of 150 square meters (1,600 sq ft), it says. A four-pack is offered at €345 (374) for approximately 200 square meters (2,150 sq ft) of security coverage.
While this project is fascinating and seems to hold great promise, there are several things to be wary of. Firstly, we always advise readers to be careful with their money, as backing a crowdfunder isn’t the same as purchasing a product outright. Secondly, it is much easier to promise a great product than to deliver one, so third-party reviews are essential here. The Gamgee Wi-Fi Home Alarm seems to be a product that would be particularly susceptible to detection glitches, as it simply promises so much precision and detail. Thirdly, even the AI giants aren’t getting it right all the time, far from it. AI hallucinations and blatant errors seem to be commonplace in 2024, and accuracy would be paramount for a system such as this.
Gamgee doesn’t expect to ship the first Wi-Fi Home Security systems until January 2025.
