Alarm.com will introduce at CES a newly expanded Wellness product line focused on well-being and health. These new independent living offerings extend protection and peace of mind for families with loved ones living on their own. Wellness Insights, a CES Innovation Award Honoree, uses a suite of sensors and predictive analytics to learn activity patterns and detect changes that can indicate an emerging health issue or other quality of life concern. Alarm.com also introduced Wellcam, the first smart home video solution designed to connect families and empower healthy, independent living.
"Both Wellness Insights and Wellcam can extend safety to the people and things that matter most," says Steve Chazin, Vice President of Product at Alarm.com. "We're making it possible for Alarm.com customers to cast a wider safety net beyond their homes, gaining peace of mind that their aging parents, children, and even pets are well cared for."
According to the Wall Street Journal, more than 30 million Americans currently provide unpaid care to family members and the number of aging adults choosing to live at home is expected to continue to grow. This increases the need for non-intrusive, cost-effective services that can help maintain independence and well-being. While awareness for devices like panic pendants is high, many consumers do not know about the importance of monitoring daily activities and detecting non-urgent issues.
Wellcam
Wellcam is the first video solution designed to empower safe and healthy independent living. By introducing Wellcam to a loved one's home, and connecting it to Wi-Fi, Alarm.com subscribers can extend their existing smart home security service to provide protection to more of their family. Placed in a living room or kitchen area, Wellcam's 180-degree field of view camera with 1080p resolution can monitor a remote relative's living space, providing a direct connection between Alarm.com subscribers and their loved ones.
Two-way audio calls and live video enable caregivers and family to check-in through the Alarm.com mobile app and visually verify how their loved one is doing. Wellcam's call out button makes it easier for a loved one to reach out for help - no smartphone required.
Wellcam can also capture video clips of activities and send them to family and caregivers for an additional safety net. Alerts and video clips let family members and caregivers know about potentially dangerous situations or when all is well. Family members can verify well-being and quality of life with just a glance at their Alarm.com mobile app, using the new Highlights feature, which provides a daily update of important activities and video clips in the home.
Wellness Insights
Wellness Insights, a CES Innovation Award Honoree, intelligently monitors quality of life through a suite of discreet sensors and smart devices in the home, and delivers proactive, AI-based insights into activities of daily living. With alerts about changes in behavior that indicate emerging quality of life issues, family and caregivers can address issues before they escalate.
Activity tracking includes events such as kitchen or bathroom visits, entries and exits from each room, and overall activity levels in the home. After establishing a detailed pattern of activity during an initial learning period, the system can identify subtle changes that may indicate a developing issue. Caregivers and loved ones can monitor overall quality of life and well-being, and receive alerts about changes so they can proactively address issues before they lead to problems.
Alerts and notifications can also provide reminders to take medications and affirm that all is well when a loved one is up and about in the morning or out for their daily walk in the afternoon. In addition, family and caregivers can know more about a range of concerning situations, including:
- Being away from bed for a prolonged time at night
- Opening a door outside of normal hours
- Not accessing medication at prescribed time
"Traditional independent living devices let you know about an emergency only after it has happened," Lainie Muller, Director of Wellness at Alarm.com. "With intelligence to detect emerging concerns, Wellness Insights empowers families and caregivers to intervene before life-safety incidents might take place and redefines the category of independent living technology."