Electronic Security Guard
I want a security guard to protect me. Not a person, but an electronic security guard system that would act in the same manner as a trained security guard that knows me, my family, and my friends and can make decisions based on experience.
- Why should I have to arm or disarm the security system?
- A guard would know that I am already home in bed and it would be unusual to have a car come into the driveway.
- A guard would recognize that the car is just dropping off my son and do nothing – other than turn on some lights and unlock the door.
- A guard would find it unlikely to have someone walk across the yard and open a window in broad daylight while you are not home – even if you hadn’t told him to arm or protect the property.
- A guard would know that it’s me coming downstairs in the morning and opening the door to grab the paper; and would not trip the alarm because I forgot to disarm it.
- A guard would know what vehicles are supposed to be home and alert me if something is amiss.
- A guard could patrol the house and property 24/7, learn our living patterns, and take actions based on prior experience.
- A guard would tell me that UPS made a delivery to the side door this morning.
- A guard would know that the neighbor went into my garage today and borrowed the lawn mower.
The possibilities are endless.
Here are three scenarios played out with an Electronic Security Guard, a conventional security system, and no system at all.
Scenario 1 - Electronic Security Guard
I am awoken by the sound of a gentle knock on my bedroom door. “Yes,” I say groggily.
“Sir, I just wanted to let you know that we had a minor event tonight, but everything seems to be safe right now.”
This wakes me up in a hurry. “What type of event?” I ask.
“Well, about two minutes ago, a car pulled into the driveway – by the way, it’s about 2:30 in the morning.”
“Oh heck, it’s probably just my son coming home late.”
“No sir. Your son was dropped off at home at 1:10 and is now asleep in his room.
“So who is it? Are they still there?” I ask.
“No, they left after I took some simple precautions. I turned on a few lights to make it appear that someone was waking up; I made sure the doors were locked; then after a minute or so I turned on all the outside lights. They left quickly after that.
“As far as who they are… The car was a 2011 silver Ford Focus. Same license plate number and model as the car that pulled in the driveway last Tuesday; the one you told me was asking if we needed gutter cleaning services. The driver of the car today looks very similar to the man that came to the door.”
“Did you contact the police?”
“Since they left so quickly, I thought I should get your permission to do that.”
“Yes, contact them and let them know. Oh, and next time, don’t wake me if you handle the situation. Just let me know in the morning.”
“Yes, sir. I will contact them and send them pictures of the man, the car, and the license plate; and let them know that it is not an emergency. Goodnight”
Scenario 2 - Conventional Security System
I’m awakened by the sound of breaking glass downstairs. I strain to listen again now that I’m fully awake. A second crash. Dang, did I forget to arm the alarm? I run to the bedroom keypad and struggle to enter the code. Finally the alarm sounds. The sounds downstairs are drowned out by the wailing siren, but I see a man run out of the house carrying some stuff and driving off in a light colored car. We had just been robbed!
Scenario 3 - No System
I’m awakened by the sound of breaking glass downstairs. I strain to listen again now that I’m fully awake. A second crash. My heart is pounding. I grab a knife/gun/baseball bat/dog1 and head for the top of the stairs yelling down, “who’s there? What do you want?” I see movement and hear sounds downstairs but eventually they stop and I see a man run out of the house carrying some stuff and driving off in a light colored car. We had just been robbed!
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All three scenarios are from the same set of circumstances. I don’t ever want to experience scenario 3. Scenario 2 is better, but I personally always struggle to remember to arm the system. What I want is scenario 1:
Does such a systems exist? Well, not exactly. We are headed in the direction of smart AI in security and most of the pieces exist and are coming down in price. But the complete system that acts like a virtual security guard is not here yet. Three things are still missing:
- Brains - A central controller that is smart enough to take all the available inputs and understand what they mean, learn from experience, and take appropriate actions. It has to be able to learn new things without extensive programming.
- Sensors - Camera systems that are treated as sensors – that don’t have the stigma of having cameras pointed at us day and night. The images are interpreted, not stored and viewable.
- Peace-of-Mind - Ultra strong cyber-security that can’t be hacked and that can guarantee to the user that all information is secure. The user must believe that the entire system is safe from all prying eyes.
What parts of this can we implement right now with current technology? What do we have to develop to make the the full system work like and Electronic Security Guard?
1 Survey at https://porch.com/resource/home-security-past-present measures items used for home security purposes – Knife 46%, Gun 33%, Baseball Bat 30%, Dog 28%