The rugged new smartphone from Caterpillar will let users see through walls. Well, sort of.
The Cat S60 smartphone, set to be released in the U.S. in August, will feature thermal imaging, said Caterpillar program manager Phil Raso.
“If you’re in the heating and cooling business, you can take it and look at a window and see where some heat is escaping,” he said. “If you’re a plumber, you can take a picture and see if there’s a leak behind a wall.”
Think of it sort of like the predator — the alien from the 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger movie that used thermal imaging to hunt its prey — except much more benevolent.
The Cat S60 will be the latest smartphone released in the Peoria, Ill.-based construction equipment manufacturer’s line of rugged phones, aimed at folks who may need something durable while on the job. Raso would not comment on sales numbers for the phones.
This is Caterpillar’s first smartphone to feature thermal imaging.
“We’ve combined the regular digital camera with the thermal imaging camera,” Raso said. “You can take normal pictures or videos like you would on a phone, then when you hit the thermal imaging app, it overlays the two.”
That feature allows users to see what objects the heat is coming from, like the outline of a window or door.
Caterpillar also says the phone is waterproof for an hour at depths of up to 5 meters, and has a cover built in. The company first announced the phone at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February.
The Cat S60 is set to go on sale in Europe, Raso said. It’ll cost $599, and U.S. customers can register to be notified when it goes on sale here.
FLIR Systems, a thermal imaging camera designer and manufacturer based in Wilsonville, Ore., makes the thermal sensors Caterpillar uses in the S60. FLIR also developed the phone’s thermal imaging app.
The demand for consumer-focused thermal imaging products has just started its ascent, said FLIR Senior Vice President Travis Merrill.
Newton, Mass.-based research and consulting firm Strategy Analytics predicts the global market for thermal phones could reach tens of millions of units by 2021.
Technological developments are making it feasible and affordable to include thermal imaging in daily-use products such as phones or cars, Merrill said. Previously, the ability to see through walls was relegated to the government and military.
“What we like to characterize as superpowers — the ability to see in total darkness, the ability to see through obscurities, the ability to distinguish between living and un-living things — those things we believe will give us an advantage in thermal imaging,” he said. “The volumes are growing. We’re seeing it in our businesses, but the broader industry is really feeling that as well.”
About the Author
