This may be the brightest idea to come out of UChicago.
Lime Green Labs, a startup out of UChicago's Booth School of Business, is developing Shade, a smart bulb-compatible light switch that learns and adapts to a user's lighting preferences, automatically adjusting to outside light sources.
Wi-Fi enabled, Shade's ambient light sensors automatically dims and brightens lights to match the desired setting determined by the homeowner. Shade can also predict future lighting needs by measuring how both lighting preferences and a user's routine changes throughout the day. For example, every time a user interacts with his or her lighting - whether it's adjusting the color or brightness when it's sunny, cloudy, dawn, or dusk - Shade's built-in photocell identifies the outside light source associated with the change so that it "knows" exactly when to alter the lighting.
In other words, it's seamless, smart technology so that you don't have to ever think about your lighting again. Check it out:
Founded by Jonathan Phillips, Lime Green Labs is a 'smart devices innovation company' that was hatched in a 'Developing New Products' class at UChicago. According to Phillips, Shade began as "a client-side script that allowed for turning off-and-on Philips Hue bulbs from a web browser." The company then developed software to analyze and control smart bulbs without the need for human interaction.
The product is currently on Kickstarter and the team is looking to raise $125,000 by December 11th. While most smart light switches on the market go for $200-$300, Shade starts at $78. If the startup meets its crowdfunding goal, Shade will be ready to ship on August 2015.
(Image via Kickstarter.com).
