Now that we all have our smartphone of choice, it seems like it is the turn of the home to become smarter. Take for example this invention from LifeDoor. In the event of a fire, it responds to the smoke alarm and automatically closes the door to which it is attached. The idea behind it is to slow the spread of the flames, contain smoke and other noxious fumes, and buy occupants time to evacuate.

The device is also connected to the room’s lighting, so as to provide better illumination in the event of a fire, and it sounds a secondary alarm. Admittedly, this is a device no one would ever want to have to try out, but apparently a closed door makes a major difference in the event of a fire. So much so, that there is even a campaign running by the Firefighter Safety Research Institute (FSRI) in the United States to encourage people to close their bedroom doors while they sleep.

The device is currently in a KickStarter, so there is no indication as yet to when it will become available. At the time of writing,it has reached a little more than half of its $50 000 goal, but still has the rest of this week to go.