SmartThings announced on Thursday at the AllThingsD: D11 conference that it would be rolling out its Developer and Inventor toolkit, enabling third-parties to develop their own SmartThings and further build up the platform's ecosystem.
After a successful Kickstarter campaign raised over $1.2 million for the startup, SmartThings took little time to completely sell out of inventory. Now, the company is looking to make good on its promise to open the SmartThings platform to developers.
"SmartThings embraces and depends upon the developer and inventor community to continue to produce new and exciting use cases of its platform. So far the open community has created a SmartThings-controlled pet feeder, a baby mobile controlled via voice sensor, a movie theater remote to dim the lights and start the popcorn, and many more," the company said.
SmartThings is a connected sensor that allows numerous items commonly found in a typical household to be linked wirelessly to a central router, enabling users to control everything from appliances to locks to thermostats via their smartphones.
The kits begin at $200. It includes a router and some adhesive sensors. Once attached, the sensor allows you to control an appliance through an iPhone app.
At the AllThingsD conference, a mock-up wall with an array of SmartThings was brought in to demonstrate the platform's functionality. Using the app, SmartThings creator Alex Hawkinson demonstrated a number of features, such turning a light on or off or checking whether a cabinet door is open.
Hawkinson also demonstrated an app called Rise and Shine, which, as the name implies, is designed to make your morning routine a little bit easier. The customizable app can automatically turn your lights on, pull back the shades and start a coffee pot connected to a sensor.
Additionally, the platform can work with any IR remote, such as a TiVo remote. SmartThings is compatible with numerous wireless standards including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, ZigBee and Z-Wave.
