Smart Door Mat

Intro: According to a survey conducted by Xfinity Home, 30% of Americans have personally experienced package theft. Delivery drivers oftentimes don’t knock loud enough or simply don’t try when it doesn’t seem like someone is home because of busy schedules. Our solution is the Smart Door Mat, which glows to indicate whether someone is present at home. 

Description: The Smart Door Mat system uses a large network of Sparkfun auditory and Adafruit PIR, or passive infrared sensors. In each room, sensors are connected to a Particle device which determines from readings whether there is a person present in the room. It uses the auditory sensors to detect noises that humans might make and uses the passive infrared sensors to detect motionless individuals. These Particles push their data via wi-fi to the Particle Cloud for safe keeping. Every 5 minutes, the Smart Door Mat contains another Particle which pulls the data via wi-fi from the Particle Cloud and analyzes it to determine whether an individual is at home. During the day, if someone is at home, the Mat emits a dark green glow to signal to a delivery driver “knock, there’s someone inside”. If no one is at home, the Mat emits a dark red glow to signal “stop, don’t deliver, there’s no one at home”. As a result, deliveries don’t get left vulnerable on a doorstep ripe for theft, and couriers don’t miss deliveries for people at home. Additionally, the Smart Door Mat acts as a home accessory, creating calm lighting for an upgraded welcome mat. 

Bill of goods: To properly equip a room with sensors, we need a single Particle device and battery pack ($40), along with two auditory ($7) and two passive infrared sensors ($8), which amounts to $60 per room. The Mat will contain a Particle device and battery pack ($40) along with several LED light strips ($10). The Smart Door Mat for a two-bedroom home will cost approximately $300. 

Enchantment: The Smart Door Mat takes an object that many homes have, and augments functionality. A typical welcome mat is simply a static decoration, and tells a visitor to the home nothing about whether or not someone is inside. Our addition of home sensors to detect if people are inside and lights for communicating adds functionality to assist visitors. The system operates without screens, and silently operates and is only noticed through displaying gentle lights at a doorstep. Users will find the system very easy to use, without having to take any actions to operate it. 

Dangerous Consequences: While the Smart Door Mat provides a way for the consumer to combat package theft and missed deliveries, it unfortunately has a dangerous side. The Smart Door Mat is intended to communicate couriers whether a home is occupied, but instead is in plain sight for anyone to see. When the Smart Door Mat glows green, it’s an all clear sign for potential home invaders to break in and steal valuables. The device doesn't actively harm users, but other people can exploit the information it conveys to commit crimes.

General Design Recommendations: The product achieves its goal of assisting delivery drivers in knowing whether someone is at home, but has the unfortunate consequence of letting potentially unwanted visitors knowing as well. An alternative product that could help achieve this goal is by communicating the occupied or not information directly to the driver. Imagine a device that glows green when the driver pulls up to make a delivery to indicate that the resident is inside, or glows red when there's no one. This alternative device is now an enchanting device for the delivery driver, and maintains the same functionality that we originally set out to achieve.