A new camera made by a company named Netatmo has facial recognition software (人脸识别系统) that can tell parents at work that their children have returned from school, or that a package (包裹) has been taken to their home. It can also tell them if a stranger has entered their home.
Janina Mattausch is a product marketing manager for Netatmo.
"The common security (安全) cameras at present are not that smart. So, they can tell you if something is moving but they don't necessarily know if it's a human being or, ah, if it's your kid- they don't know the difference, so they will warn (警告) you all the time."
When family members enter a home, the new camera "recognizes" (识别) them and sends information to the owner's smartphone. The owner can choose to see the video then or later. But if an unknown person enters a home, the camera will send the owner a warning that will cause an alarm to sound on the owner's smartphone.
That is what happened recently to a smart home camera owner named Damien. He lives in Paris.
"On a Friday I was at work, attending a big monthly meeting when my phone warned. At first I told myself 'Oh, it must be a mistake, maybe I have to set the system again.' —but the notice on my phone was telling me that there was a movement in my flat and also a face that the software did not recognize."
He watched the video and was very surprised by what he saw.
"I saw a person I did not know with his shoes on. I was watching it live on video. So I felt totally unbelievable, frozen. I asked a workmate to take me back home as fast as possible and I called the police on the way."
With the help of the video, the police found the intruder (闯入者) later that day.