Cupertino, California-based CherryHome is a company that uses artificial intelligence to help users look after the elderly at home. CherryHome’s platform is able to detect changes in behavior along with detecting falls and stumbles. And CherryHome is able to track users by utilizing computer vision and microphones built into the device.
CherryHome’s platform includes a binocular battery-powered camera, 1TB of internal storage, sensors, an infrared sensor (built-in night vision), a motion sensor, an accelerometer, a compass, and an altimeter. Stats are displayed in a dashboard and users can access short looped videos of stumbles and shouts. And there are customizable summaries of daily activities.
Detecting falls are extremely important because it is the leading cause of injury for people above age 65. Goncharov pointed out that seniors are currently 15% of the U.S. population and one in five Americans will be of retirement age by 2030. And the majority of them would rather live at home rather than moving to an assisted-living facility.
“Understanding human behavior has a long list of applications, from home security to in-home senior care to the overall goal of making smart homes totally autonomous. But improving senior care is arguably one of the most important areas for technological improvement,” said CherryHome co-founder and CEO Max Goncharov in a statement.
Photo: CherryHome
Cherry Labs, the company behind the CherryHome founded by Goncharov, Stas Veretennikov, and Nick Davidov a couple of years ago, has raised $5.2 million in funding from GSR Ventures according to VentureBeat. The funding will go towards a pilot program being deployed in a few weeks with TheraCare and TriCura.
“The Cherry Home team has the technological prowess and vision to deliver valuable products to the rapidly growing elderly care market,” added GSR Ventures partner Sunny Kumar via VentureBeat. “We are excited to partner with them as they develop a suite of services to power tomorrow’s autonomous smart homes.”
CherryHome includes a starter pack of sensors and a processor that will tentatively cost $1,600 for two rooms when it starts shipping in the first quarter of 2019. Or it could cost as much as $2,000 for six rooms. And the subscription cost is about $30 per month per sensor. So this system will not be for those of you who are on a budget for this kind of technology. CherryHome is currently being tested by 15 families in the Bay Area.
Some of Cherry Labs’ previous investors include Gagarin Capital, Impulse VC, Altair Capital, Alexander Agapitov, Yuri Gursky, Igor Matsanyuk, Julia Neznanova, Aigerim Shorman, and Greg Silverman.
