New wireless camera will make your dumb fridge smart

A British technology company is hoping to revolutionise the fridge market and win the war on food waste with a new wireless camera that is said to be a world first.

On show at this year’s IFA in Berlin, the Smarter FridgeCam is a wireless camera that easily attaches to the inside of any fridge. It enables smartphone users to see what’s inside their fridge remotely by using an app and can turn any ‘dumb’ fridge into a smart one.

The FridgeCam, which was developed by British technology company Smarter and can be retrofitted into any fridge, takes a snapshot of the contents of the fridge every time the user closes the appliance’s door, stores the information in the cloud and then displays it in the app.

Using the app, which is compatible with both iOS and Android, consumers can easily keep track of the contents of their fridge, wherever they are.

The aim is to prevent shoppers buying food they don’t need and to cut down on food wastage.

Christian Lane
Christian Lane

FridgeCam, which can also be connected to Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant, uses object recognition to keep track of food items, and the app will monitor use-by dates and also send out automatic reminders to buy more milk, for example.

The Smarter Chef feature will recommend recipes based on the contents of the user’s fridge.

Speaking to kbbreview’s sister magazine ERT, Smarter chief executive and founder Christian Lane said: “The key is getting the FridgeCam attached to as many fridges as possible.”

In Germany, Smarter has partnered with premium refrigeration brand Liebherr to launch the FridgeCam.

Said Lane: “The FridgeCam will be locked to Liebherr fridges – you can only use it if you have a Liebherr fridge. The massive attraction of FridgeCam to consumers is that it is a universal attachment that can be mounted into any existing fridge.”

He added: “There are two markets. Every year, a million fridges are selling in Dixons – so we can attach it to those – and there are 25 million households [in the UK] that have old fridges that they want to upgrade. “They’ve seen a Samsung or a Bosch fridge and they want the technology, but they can’t afford to buy a brand new fridge. The FridgeCam can transform it completely.”

The Smarter FridgeCam will be available in the UK from October 26. It will retail for £149.

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