Videre: Electricity-Saving Refrigerator Add-on Camera
Team Novus: Jonathan Ko, Carolyn Ge
2016-2017 Conrad Spirit of Innovation Challenge
Finalist (did not attend due to budget)
Founder/Captain, team of 2
faq
What is your innovative product/service?
Videre is an innovative device that attaches to a refrigerator so that users can view the contents of the appliance without opening the door and wasting precious electricity. Frequently, people open the doors of refrigerators to check their contents, then ultimately close the doors without removing anything. With Videre, a camera inside the refrigerator transmits its feed to the user’s phone with a companion app. Using this feature, Videre allows people to simply check an application to see what is inside the refrigerator, saving time and energy. This feature also conveniently allows users to check their refrigerators’ contents while shopping.
What problems is your product/service designed to solve?
According to studies conducted by the Institute of Food and Agriculture Sciences, carelessly opening and closing refrigerator doors wastes 50 to 120 kilowatt-hours a year. With 50 kilowatt-hours of energy, the average dishwasher could run 20 times and with 100 kilowatt-hours of energy, the average washing machine could complete 50 cycles. This amounts to a cost-free load of laundry every week for an entire year. Videre is designed to combat this energy wastage by allowing users to easily and conveniently view the contents of their refrigerators so they don’t open the doors prodigally.
What are the key features of your product/service that make it unique?
Videre conserves electricity and fight global warming by making sure that people do not open their refrigerator doors unnecessarily. The main component is a camera with simple Internet connectivity; the camera attaches to the inside of the refrigerator, and the feed is transmitted to the user’s mobile device. The system uses simple Internet streaming technology to transmit a video feed to the mobile device when the app is opened. Videre’s camera is designed to fit into a corner of a refrigerator, resulting in an unobtrusive product that does its job with no drawbacks.
How is your product/service innovative and different from other products/services intended to solve the same problems?
After extensive research, our team found that the only comparable technology on the market exists as part of luxury refrigerators. This type of technology allows the user to see the inside of the refrigerator as an element of an expensive high-end refrigerator experience. Our product is superior because instead of installing a completely new refrigerator, buyers need only attach Videre to their existing refrigerator, making it much more versatile than the current options. Additionally, Videre will cost less than $30, while luxury refrigerator prices can climb above $8,500, making our product more affordable and appealing to the average buyer.