A Cricket in Your House
“Grillo” is the Spanish language word for cricket. Anyone who has been awakened by a cricket chirping knows that it is impossible to go back to sleep. And that is exactly why the Mexico City developers named their smart seismic alarm after the annoying insect. Their inconspicuous device is about the same size and price as a smoke alarm, but it cannot be ignored – day or night. The seismometer is pre-programmed to stream data to the cloud, which can be monitored remotely.
Grillo was a finalist in Call for Code, a global social technology contest founded by IBM. Nearly 3 billion people live in seismic zones. Arrow is helping reengineer Grillo with sensitive new accelerometer technology to detect earthquakes sooner. IBM is adding Cloud service and Watson data analytics. Adding Grillo devices in millions of homes and businesses will give people more time to escape harm and redirect public safety resources to where they are needed.