Google's Nest got a new rival when Roost launched a Kickstarter fundraiser campaign in 2014 for a new smart battery that turned regular smoke alarms into connected devices. The former employees of a Wi-Fi chip maker developed a power supply that allowed users to monitor their smoke detectors using an ordinary smartphone. Roost's smart batteries are available at various retail chains including Home Depot, and the company is now doubling down with a pair of new smoke detectors that combine the battery's wireless connectivity and app's check-in and alerts.
The devices' smart battery uses Wi-Fi connectivity to inform mobile phones when it is out of juice, according to The Verge. After users install the small battery the smoke alarm becomes connected.
Roost's Roel Peeters and James Blackwell are both former Ozmo employees. The company's new smoke alarms follow its 9-volt smart battery with a $35 price tag, according to Tech Crunch.
Peeters explains that the new battery was a warm-up for the company's new products. Roost is integrating lessons learned while developing the past products, into the new smoke detectors.
He explains that the company fixed many connectivity bugs including issues related to check-in rather than notifications.
Roost's baseline model is the RSA-200 that provides smoke and fire detection at a $60 price tag. Meanwhile, the RSA-400 also detects carbon monoxide and natural gas for $80.
The prices of Roost's smart smoke alarms are much cheaper than Nest's second-gen units. Peeters argues that his company has focused on making the smoke detectors more affordable for everyday people, after designing a smart battery that retrofits standard smoke alarms.
In related news, Apple has hired Google X co-founder and former vice president of Technology at Nest Yoky Matsuoka. She will be working on some of the tech giant's health projects.
After Matsuoka left the Alphabet company's experimental division Google X she helped to develop the smart thermostat for the company's Nest smoke detectors. However, Matsuoka left Nest one year later after Google purchased the company.
She then worked at startup Quanttus to develop blood pressure monitoring tech. Afterwards Matsuoka never accepted the VP position at Twitter she was offered.