Betty can be used to switch on/off your appliances, monitor electricity usage and cost, and secure your home when you’re away
“Please make sure the geyser is turned off before leaving the bathroom. Else, you will die bathing in chilled water tomorrow morning”. One of my roomies pasted this notice right on the bathroom door after he noticed that the geyser is left turned on most of the days, resulting in higher power consumption.
We often forget to turn off A/C, geyser, refrigerator or water motor pump before rushing to work. And the punishment comes in the form of heavy power bills at the end of every month. While there are many IoT applications to manage energy and monitor consumption at large enterprises, there is none for the common man.
A Gurgaon-based startup has come up with a solution to address this. The company, Beyond Evolution, has developed a smart plug under its new IoT platform BeConnected that enables you to control electric devices remotely and on the go.
“There are many IoT-based energy management and monitoring solutions available in the market, but most of them are catering to the affluent and the rich, as well as large enterprises. We are however targeting people like you and me with our smart plug Betty,” its Co-founder-CEO Saurabh Sharma told e27.
The startup was founded in 2013 by Sharma, an Engineer and MBA graduate and “entrepreneur by passion”. Beyond Evolution is a mobile apps development and IT solutions company that develops end consumer app solutions for telcos and enterprises.
Beyond Evolution Co-founder and CEO Saurabh Sharma,
Betty is a smart plug-cum-mobile app that lets you remotely control and monitor your household appliances from anywhere, anytime and on the go. Betty can be used to switch on/off your appliances, monitor electricity usage and cost, and secure your home when you’re away. The user can connect multiple devices into the plug and leave for work without having to worry about the energy wastage and exorbitant power energy consumption.
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“In addition to tracking the usage and consumption, the plug also has a feature to schedule your routine activities on the appliances, so that the appliance automatically turns on/off at the set time and send alerts to all users when done,” added Sharma.
Betty comes equipped with many other unique features, including an intruder alert. The user will receive an alert if there is an intruder detected by the motion sensor, coming with the device. Betty can detect movements within 30 feet of its proximity to notify you and your emergency contacts via text and email when there is an intrusion.
“The user can share Betty with his/her family, flatmates or anyone concerned with the use of appliances by inviting them from the app. You have the ability to edit their roles and even restrict users from accessing an appliance which they no longer manage,” he explained.
Betty works with all 16amp appliance such as AC, geyser and water pump motor. It is compatible with brands and all iOS and Android smartphones. You can add the appliances to be monitored by tapping the mobile app.
The Betty smart plug
The startup plans to commercially launch the product within the next couple of weeks. It will be available on its site BeConnected and other e-commerce platforms as well. “We have already tested the plug with some 30 customers and the response has been overwhelming,” he said.
The company is also working on an array of electronic devices that merge with current systems, so that customers do not have to upgrade in order to adopt these products. “We wanted to make a device that can be bought and used with what we own now, without having to wait for higher end technology/upgrades in the future,” Sharma added.
Besides developing apps for prominent brands like Air India, Honda Motors, DDB Mudra and MTNL, Beyond Evolution is the application development partner with SoftBank Telecom India and a slew of other eminent corporates.
A couple of weeks back, Beyond Evolution received an undisclosed sum in funding from Vineet Taneja, former CEO of Indian handset maker Micromax, and Kamal Puri, Chairman of Skyline Group (UAE).
The post Forgot to turn off A/C or an intruder at home? Bet on Betty to take care of your house when you are away appeared first on e27.