A team of coding students from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, have developed an app that can turn your smartphone into a smoke detector. 'Smoke Detective' is programmed to allow a smartphone camera to detect smoke from a fire, then sound an audible and visible alarm upon detection. Local husband and father, Steve Davis, came up with the idea after his family went through the trauma of a house fire.
A chance meeting with a college professor gave Davis the resources he needed to take his innovative idea from paper to product. The team hopes to release Smoke Detective for iPhone and Android by the end of 2018.