Wild new WiFi routers turn your home network into a security radar

Ages ago I shared how your home Wi-Fi router could be turned into a radar-like device to either spy on you, see through walls, or keep you safe, and even to power your gadgets, and now years later there’s been another development in the latter use case. Wi-Fi security usually means keeping virtual intruders off your network, but a new system claims to be able to use Wi-Fi networks to detect physical intruders. Gamgee’s Wi-Fi Home Alarm System can learn to recognise people and pets who belong there and alert you to strangers – or perhaps even when an elderly person takes a fall.

Our homes are already full of invisible Wi-Fi signals, whizzing around connecting our phones, laptops, lightbulbs, fridges, and basically everything else that can be made “smart” nowadays. While we can’t see or feel these signals, we do leave an impact on them as we move around the house.

Intriguingly, recent research has shown that specialised Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms can be used to analyse reflected Wi-Fi signals and detect a person in a room, even through walls. Further advances were made to differentiate individual people based on height, body shape, or even the way they walk, and counting up to 20 people in one room.

See it in action.

Now, a Dutch startup called Gamgee is putting that tech into consumer products. The Wi-Fi Home Alarm System is made up of a set of routers that form a Mesh network, which first of all ensures a reliable internet connection throughout the house. But the other main function, of course, is that they can then detect motion with the help of built-in algorithms.

According to the company, a two-week training phase lets the system learn to recognise the “body prints” of residents, regular visitors, even kids and pets. After that, unfamiliar motions will trigger a notification to the user, letting them label a new guest – or alerting them to a potential intruder, even down to the specific room or part of the house they’re in. Another use case the team seems to be exploring is to monitor the movements of elderly people around their homes, and alert family members in the event of a fall.

Controlled through an app, the detection system can either be run all the time or just when you leave the house. You don’t need to carry any Wi-Fi devices yourself – it’s just recognizing everything from the same signals casting your Netflix.

It might sound a little bit creepy from a privacy perspective, but Gamgee insists that all motion data is processed and stored on the routers themselves, and never in the cloud. Still, the idea that you could review “motion history,” including which family members went into which rooms when and for how long, feels a bit unsettling.

The Gamgee Wi-Fi Home Alarm System is currently seeking funding on Indiegogo, where a pledge of €295 (about US$320) gets you a set of three routers, or €345 ($374) for four. If all goes well, shipping should start in January 2025.

Check out the system in the video above.