Finally some much needed smart appliance love for those without central air conditioning (and it’ll keep you cool): the Quirky Aros. Backed by GE, the New York-based start-up Quirky has combined the traditional window A/C unit with some very modern technologies to create the Nest (smart thermostat) of window air conditioners at a particularly reasonable price. On the surface, the Aros is an 8,000 BTU window A/C unit (rated to cool 350 square feet) with an almost Apple-like exterior (it looks as good as any window A/C unit I could imagine). Throw in touch capacitive buttons, Wi-Fi, and an iPhone and Android app for adjusting remotely and you’ve got your smart window air conditioner. The smartphone app doesn’t just let you control the temperature remotely…
The Aros takes advantage of GPS data and can enable and disable itself based on when you arrive and leave based on location with its “smart away” feature. Hooray for automation! Aros doesn’t stop there. It also takes into account your budget, weather, and usage patterns to recommend a schedule and temperature for programming.
See it in action:
Introducing Aros from Quirky on Vimeo.
