Security cameras generally share ubiquitous form factor, arriving in dull shades of black or grey. However, Ulo, a new camera designed by Vivien Muller, bucks this trend in favor of taking the form of a small owl.
Ulo’s beak, which is actually a two-way mirror, hides the unit’s night-vision camera and built-in motion sensor. Two large round screens, which take the form of Ulo’s eyes, communicate the device’s status.
For instance, if Ulo has dull eyes and looks sleepy, the unit’s batteries need to be replaced. Further, its eyes blink when a user takes a picture using the camera, and its eyes both follow movement and squint if a user zooms in a live video stream from the unit.
The camera allows users to live stream video directly from an Android or iOS device, or from a web interface, and offers a day or night mode. Further, the camera bears an alert setting that sends its owner a .GIF whenever movement is detected.
The device is supported by a rechargeable battery that lasts up to a week, and is rated for both indoor and outdoor use – for example, Ulo will function in environments ranging from -10 to 50 degrees Celsius.
Ulo has already crowd-sourced $900,00 USD, surpassing its original $223,119 goal. Units are expected to begin shipping next year in November, and everyone else still has a change to purchase a unit at $158 USD within the next eight days.
