Why this exists
One spare phone. One small question. Answered all day.
The useful questions a camera can answer are rarely grand ones. They are
small, domestic and specific to you — not what is in this photo
but has the dog eaten yet. No product ships that model, because the
only person who wants it is you. So train it yourself, prop an old phone
where it can see, and let it watch so you don't have to.
THE KITCHEN FLOOR
Has the dog eaten?
Phone on the counter, angled down at the bowl. Two labels —
full and empty —
are enough, and forty photos of each is enough to learn them. It tells
you the moment the bowl is cleared, and nags you if it still isn't by
dinner. Nobody has to remember who fed her.
empty · 0.90 · held 60s → webhook
THE BACK DOOR
Did the cat come home?
When one has been missing, the waiting is the hard part. Point a phone
at the step and let it watch the dark for you. It can call out loud
when he's on the mat at 3am, and post to your phone at the same time,
so you can sleep through the part where nothing happens.
cat · 0.85 → speak + webhook
THE FRONT STEP
Is the parcel still sitting there?
Not was it delivered — the courier already told you that.
The question is whether it's been on the step for two hours in the rain
while you're out. Same model, different rule: fire on the box that has
stopped being picked up.
parcel · held 2h → webhook
THE FEEDER
Which birds actually visit?
Start with no model at all. Leave the app in collect mode for a
weekend and it writes you a labelled folder of every visitor, ready
for ImageFolder. Train on that, point it back
out the window, and now it names them as they land.
feeder_birds/chickadee/0001.jpg
THE WORKBENCH
Did the print fail at 2am?
A print that turns to spaghetti keeps extruding for six more hours if
nothing is watching. One phone on a tripod, one class for
spaghetti, and a webhook that hits your
printer's stop endpoint. It pays for the old phone the first time it
catches one.
spaghetti · 0.80 → webhook · torch
THE GARAGE
Is the door open again?
The classic sensor problem, solved with a camera you already own and
no drilling. It sees the door, not a magnet on a frame, so it keeps
working when the thing you actually care about moves house.
open · after sunset → speak + webhook
BEFORE YOU PICTURE IT ON A ROOF
What this honestly takes
These are all the same three things wearing different hats: a model
you trained, a phone that can see the thing, and a rule that fires
when the model is confident for long enough. What it is not is a
finished smart-home product. The phone needs power and your Wi-Fi,
it talks to a server you are running, and the model is only as good
as the afternoon you spent collecting for it. The upside of every one
of those constraints is the same: the frames never leave your house,
and nobody can discontinue it.
your model · your machine · your network · no account
TENSOR CAMERA
