Peeple - Caller ID for your front door
What happens when someone knocks on your door and you don't answer it? With Peeple, you'll know. It's caller ID for your door!
About this project
Hundreds of years ago, a breakthrough in door technology (tiny door within a door) allowed people to see who was at their door without the risk and inconvenience of actually opening the door. When someone wanted to look out they simply opened the tiny door to take a peek.
In the 1950's there was a another major breakthrough that Popular Science wrote "the peephole is a one way viewer..." where "you can see not only the head of a visitor, but get a full length view."
Not much has changed since then, but peepholes in doors are ubiquitous. Most people don't even realize they have them. We're betting you do, go ahead and check. We'll wait. If you don't have a peephole, We're betting you have a window in your door to look through. That's really just a big peephole.
It's about time the front door peephole got an update. So if you have a door and you have a mobile phone, you need Peeple!
Media
Not only are we a Kickstarter Staff Pick, but we've been on TV recently: KEYE (Austin), KCTV5 (Kansas City), and KFDM(Beaumont, TX). And, you can read about our story online: TechnologyTell, Geeky Gadgets, Silicon Hills, psfk, CNet, gizmag, FastStuff, upscout, TechnoBuffalo, UT, and TechCrunch.
What is Peeple?
Your front door is a blind spot. You have no idea when someone comes to your house or leaves your house unless you are there. When a child wanders out of the house or someone comes to visit, we wanted to know. Wouldn't you?
Peeple is a small camera that mounts on your existing peephole or sticks on the glass of your door. It has sensors and a battery and can be easily removed if you want to look through the peephole.
Peeple connects to your home wifi and then sends notifications to you when someone knocks or opens the door. You can be anywhere in the world and as long as you have a mobile phone with a signal, you will receive the notification. You can open the Peeple app (free in the iOS or Android app store) and virtually look through the peephole and see who is at your door.
There is also a history of all your knocks and door opens, so you can keep track of all the comings and goings through your front door. Ever wondered how many people come by when you're not home, whether to sell you something or just see if you're home? Now you'll know. It's even great for screening people when you don't want to come to door.
Why we need you
We've made a few Peeples, and now it's time to work on manufacturing. The way electronic gadgets work, you have to order a bunch for any factory to help you. So, that's where you come in. This will be our first run of Peeples for the world. Become a Peeple pioneer and join us on this adventure. We've set the funding level to make just enough Peeples to get them manufactured in quantity. Now we need you to make it happen.
Rewards
Become a Peeple supporter! If you would like to support us, but you don't need a Peeple, support us by becoming a 'Peeple Supporter'. You get all the updates, our eternal gratitude, plus a custom sticker that's the same size as a Peeple.
The Peeple reward! We need Peeple pioneers. By buying our initial run of Peeples, you'll be the first on your block to own this amazing new technology. Before we assemble your Peeple, we'll ask you for your color and bracket choice.
Get a peephole with your Peeple! If you don't have a peephole in your door or you're ready for an upgrade, let us get a peephole for you. We'll send you a peephole guaranteed to be compatible with Peeple. You'll be able to choose from different color options for both your peephole and Peeple.
The monster peephole and Peeple! This is the king of all peepholes. Choose this reward to get a peephole that is not only large, but also provided the images you see in our video and app on this page.
The Peeple Pair! You get two Peeple! Put one on your front door and one on your back. Or, give a Peeple as a gift! You get two Peeple for a lower pledge amount.
The Monster Peeple Pair! You get two Peeple plus two monster peepholes! Have two doors or know a friend with a door? Give the gift of Peeple with a guaranteed peephole to work with each one. The monster peephole is the same peephole used to make the images in the video and on this page.
Become part of the team! Do you want to be a Peeple person? Choose this reward to get your Peeple early and become one of our field testing specialists.
The Limited Edition 'High End'! 50 Cent inspired this one. When we spoke to 50 Cent at CES during the Hardware Battlefield, he said 'Make it high end', and we did! This Peeple is your own personal white labeled edition that has your family name on it.
What would be cooler than having your Peeple with your family name on it?
One with a gold! (ok, it's not real gold, but it looks like it). You can choose gold or any of our other bracket selections, but gold brackets are only available to high end customers. This is limited just to Kickstarter backers (there will be a text limit on the number of characters). If you'd like a peephole with this pledge, let us know and we'll throw one in.
Why $149
We're keeping Peeple as simple as possible with just enough features to solve the problem of getting caller ID for your home. The electronics are a big part of this price and involve circuitry, electronic components, cabling, microprocessors, sensors, a camera, and a good battery. Add in manufacturing costs, enclosure, assembly, packaging, shipping and it all adds up. If we could make a million of these we could certainly lower the price, but we need to make a few hundred of these before going big time and that's why we need you! A kickstarter and a pioneer! A Peeple Pioneer!
History
Peeple was born in November of 2013. Overnight we built Peeple (at that time we called it Peep) for a hackathon in Austin, Texas. Out of over 30 projects and some stiff competition, we won and Peeple was on its way.
After winning the contest we re-wrote almost all of the of the software, built a case for Peep, and iterated on several different types of sensors (buttons, switches, motion detection, etc.).
We then showed Peeple at SXSW Create in March 2014. We got some great feedback and talked to hundreds of people about Peeple. Peeple live tweeted everyone that knocked during the conference (see @peephome). Live tweeting is just one of the many things Peeple can do!
We continued to improve Peeple and updated the electronics, the overall size, and changed its appearance. We even played around with making a wood based Peeple.
We pitched Peeple at a TechCrunch meet-up in June and won 2nd place in the pitch competition.
We then went to San Francisco to make more prototypes of Peeple (this is also when peep became Peeple).
After graduating from the Highway1 accelerator in San Francisco, we went on to CES in Las Vegas to participate in Techcrunch's Hardware Battlefield. Not only did we make the finals, we came in second place and got to pitch our product to the one and only 50 Cent.
Now we're ready to get a Peeple to you!
Timeline
Once this campaign is over and Peeple funding is successful, the clock starts:
Team
Chris Chuter has a Bachelor and Master's Degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Texas. He has worked at NASA, in the oil and gas industry, and the game industry. He has owned or founded several startups and has been working in the mobile industry for the last 5 years. With several million downloads of apps in both the Apple and Android app store, he's witnessed the mobile revolution first hand. In his spare time, he loves coaching his kids, running, and woodworking (he still has all his fingers, thankfully).
David Genet studied Mechanical Engineering at Carnegie Melon and earned an Architecture degree from the University of Texas before becoming an artist in the game industry. He and Chris have spent the last 5 years developing apps for all mobile devices. He has worked at The Fizz Factor, Human Code, and Zynga. If you've played 'ville game there is a good chance you have seen his art.
Craig Sullender is an electrical engineer with years of experience designing hardware for camera systems. He has several patents for low cost computer vision. Craig is a former power system designer for NASA and some of his electronics are currently orbiting the earth in the International Space Station (ISS). For fun he likes welding and baking.
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