Web-connected “smart” homes can already turn up your heating, dim your lights and see who’s at the front door — but would you trust a computer to look after your children?
Babysitters may be next for technological disruption, with Google now suggesting it can use its vast networks to help parents keep a digital eye on their offspring.
The search giant is working on a system for “protecting unattended children” inside homes that use smart gadgets. It says the invention could disable electrical sockets and digital door locks, and even text parents a warning if their child is in peril.
Features would include flashing lights and audio warnings such as: “Toddler unattended” in a certain room, “Your child is approaching an electrical outlet,” and “Your child is alone for 10 minutes.”
Data about the number of youngsters in a room would be beamed to a parent’s phone via motion, audio and touch sensors. These could be controlled by Google’s Home and Home Mini voice-activated artificial intelligence assistants. The system would “learn” who is a family member and could be linked to a webcam.
Google said its new “computing system” has been designed to take account of “a need for improved devices and methods for protecting unattended children in a home”.
The designers think it could be useful if a parent or guardian needs to dash out unexpectedly. But they also suggest it “may complement or replace conventional methods for protecting unattended children in the home”.
The design, revealed in a European patent, sparked a mixed response from parents and child protection campaigners. A spokeswoman for the NSPCC said: “Having a digital system like this in the home may offer peace of mind but there’s a danger it could lull some parents into a false sense of security about their children’s safety if they are being left unattended.
“Our advice is that parents think carefully before deciding if a child is ready to be left unattended, even for short periods. Babies and toddlers should never be left unattended. Older children shouldn’t be left if they are not happy with being left, or if they don’t know what to do in an emergency.”
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Sarah Hesz, founder of mothers’ meet-up app Mush, said: “If technology can help our kids be safe when they are out of sight then that’s fantastic.
“But until Google can calm a tantruming two-year-old, referee an argument between siblings or explain to a pre-schooler why they are only allowed to open one advent calendar window a day, there is no chance this is any sort of replacement to proper childcare.” Google designers suggest the system could also be used when a parent is in another room and wants an extra eye on their child. A child’s “status” could even be emailed to “trusted contacts” in a parent’s social network, and a webpage would provide “analysis or statistics” about what happened while a guardian was away.
The system could be linked to carbon monoxide sensors and household smart items that are hazardous to children, such as fireplaces or balcony doors.
It could even include “challenges/rules/compliance/rewards” for the child to help them “live safely”, according to the patent publication.
Google declined to comment.
