DeviceGuru

Evo will soon begin shipping a low-power, Internet-enabled, wireless monitor aimed at parents who want to keep tabs on their babies even when they’re off enjoying some much-deserved R&R.

The Evoz WiFi Baby Monitor works in tandem with an iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad, which functions as the remote listening, notification, and control terminal. The system provides baby monitoring, active crying alerts, and data collection services, and can be configured to send email, text message, or phone call alerts when the baby starts crying.

The app running on the remote iOS device can turn the Evoz Baby Monitor on and off, and can specify its settings and alerts. Various pages in the app display the baby’s crying and sleep data, and indicate how the monitored baby compares with others. The app even suggests ways to improve the baby’s sleep, based on its observations of the baby’s sleep patterns.

(click thumbnails to enlarge)

Evoz iOS app screenshots
(Source: Evo; click thumbnails to enlarge)

 

Incidentally, families with a spare iOS device can substitute one of their iOS devices for the dedicated Evoz Baby Monitor, thereby saving the cost of purchasing the specialized Evoz Baby Monitor gadget. In that case, they’ll still need to subscribe to the Evoz web-service in order to benefit from features such as customizable alerts.

Cry detection

How does the Evoz device discriminate between a baby’s cry and a cat’s meow or other background noise, such as children playing in the yard, vacuuming, or other noise in the environment?

Evo CTO Ruwan Welaranta provided this response:

The Evoz cry detection algorithm was developed by locking the CEO and CTO into an empty apartment for a month, where they listened to hours and hours of baby cries, and stared at pages and pages of graphs. Prior to the month of extreme data analysis, literature was reviewed, opinions solicited, advisors consulted, textbooks were perused.

All this went into an algorithm that combines fundamental frequency detection and spectral signature matching to perform volume independent, crier agnostic, cry detection. The volume independent part means that the baby monitor can be placed anywhere from three to 12 feet, or even further, from the baby. The crier-agnostic part means that the monitor recognizes any baby without the need for training or calibration. Implementing and refining the algorithm, as well as developing the cry length tracking analytics, were the next steps. All of this forms the heart of the patent-pending Evoz baby monitoring system.

 

Device specs

In order to perform the required data collection, analysis, and communication functions, the Evoz Baby Monitor device (pictured on the right — click image to enlarge) contains a low-power microcontroller, running the open-source eCOS real-time embedded operating system.

Key features of the hardware include:

• CPU: 44MHz 32-bit microcontroller
• Memory: 150KB RAM; 1MB flash
• Firmware: eCOS operating system; LwIP TCP/IP stack
• Wireless: WiFI 802.11 B/G
• Size: 4.75 x 2 x 4 inches
• Power: 5W max

 
Further information

Evo expects to begin shipping the Evoz Baby Monitoring Device on October 4th. It’s currently available for pre-order on the company’s website, priced from $120 to $180. Pricing depends on the inclusion and duration of the optional monitoring alerts web-service.

The free Evoz iOS app is currently available from the Apple App Store. It can be used for up to 30 minutes per day on a pair of iOS devices without subscribing to Evo’s related web-service. Parents desiring to use an iOS device at the baby location, rather than purchasing the dedicated Evoz Baby Monitor device, can subscribe to the Evoz web-service for rates ranging up to $70 per year (also available at monthly rates).

Visit Evo’s website for further details.