Open doors and monitor your home intercom system from your phone thanks to new technology from a UOC entrepreneur

Opening the door to your flat, garage or building without using your keys is now possible thanks to DOOD, a smart entryphone system that allows you to open the door or answer intercom calls from your phone. Helena Calva, student on the UOC's bachelor's degree programme in Digital Design and Creation, is behind this invention, which has already hit the market. Individual consumers as well as courier, logistics or holiday rental companies are just some of the target markets for this home automation product, and its creators hope to make it a success story across Europe.

An electric lock, a smartphone app and a gadget installed beside your intercom are the three ingredients you need to get DOOD up and running. The project has been selected as a finalist in the UOC's annual entrepreneurship programme, SpinUOC, promoted via the platform Hubbik. They will be announcing the winner on 1 October.

The tool offers a host of possibilities to individual home owners. It does not just allow you to unlock your front door using your phone; you can also open the door and answer incoming calls and video calls from your intercom system even though you are out.

For example, you could let a courier into your building, or even through your front door if you know and trust them, to drop off a package without you being home; you could let a family member into your house while you're still at the office or even working abroad. Users would receive a call letting them know someone has rung the doorbell and using that same phone, they could let them in as if they were in the house themselves. The technology also allows users to grant temporary or specific access to visitors, such as cleaners or maintenance workers, allowing them to enter the building at a specific time. The tool also detects when the user leaves their home.

Managing work schedules

Companies can also benefit from this service which, aside from providing access to employees, can also be used as a log-in system to keep a track of work schedules. The creators have also installed one in a nursery, allowing the children's parents to open the front door via an app, provided that the headteacher has authorized their access. This allows nursery staff to monitor who comes in and out of the building at all times.

Key-free holiday rentals

Co-working companies or holiday home rental platforms are also potential clients for this home automation product. The device allows users to check in and out without the need for keys, cards or potentially unreliable key boxes.  Holidaymakers and visitors can let home owners know when they arrive by ringing the doorbell. Owners would then receive a call allowing them to grant access during authorized periods of time without the need for keys.

"It helps keep customers satisfied and companies can optimize logistics and resources, having only to programme the time the client will access the flat and leaving the rest to them," explained Calva, the brains behind the project alongside telecommunications engineer César de la Torre, in charge of programming, software, hardware and designing the manufacturing system, and Francisco González Sotres, the device's software, app and server developer.

Forgetting your keys is a thing of the past

Calva explained how DOOD offers a great many benefits to individual users as well: first, they can forget about their keys, the risk of losing them or having to change the locks, and therefore the additional cost that this implies; and second, they alone control who goes into their home. "What's more, you save money on making copies of keys, which you're more likely to leave at home than your phone, say," joked Calva, who also pointed out how useful this tool can be for the elderly or people with physical disabilities or special needs, since it allows them to grant access to carers without having to go to the door in an emergency, for example, or at a specific time.

Even if you do leave your phone at home, DOOD will still let you in. The creators are currently developing a virtual assistant which, should you forget your phone or run out of battery, will grant you access to your home thanks to a voice password.

The company is also developing their own model of electric lock. There is already a selection of options on the market that range in price, some as cheap as €35. The proponents point out that the difference between DOOD and other smart intercoms is that DOOD allows for remote software updates and does not  affect or compromise your neighbours' use of the intercom.

The device is essentially aimed at individual, tech-savvy property owners between 35 and 65 years old, willing to invest the €89 DOOD will cost them. For now, the creators have installed more than 20 devices around their home region of Cantabria, Spain, but they hope to expand trade throughout Europe. It is currently being sold on their website and the team are also seeking funding to accelerate production.