Soter FAQs

Soter is an AI guardian for the front door. It consists of a camera, microphone and screen and greets whoever arrives at the door. It finds out who they are and the purpose of their visit. It uses face recognition, appointments, PINs and other information to decide how to handle the visit, notifying occupants or carers as and when necessary in accordance with household settings. It can verify that packages have come to the right address, take messages and turn away anyone who shouldn't be there. Soter was made for older people and disabled people who find the door hard work, and for their families and carers who worry about it from afar.

A video doorbell rings and hands the whole problem to you: squint at the picture, answer quickly, decide on the spot, alone. Soter talks to the visitor first, works out what they want, and only brings you in when a decision genuinely needs a person.

It was designed from the very first sketch around real access needs — limited mobility, low vision, hearing loss, memory that isn't what it was — rather than having accessibility bolted on afterwards.

And the whole household stays in the loop: family and carers can see who came, what they wanted, and how it was handled, so nobody is left ringing three times a day to check.

Soter consists of hardware mounted at the front door of the residence. It requires a low voltage power connection, which can be fed via a thin ribbon cable through the door jamb.

Soter needs to connect to the internet via the property's Wi-Fi or via a cellular service. There is also a monthly or annual subscription.

Soter communicates with the occupant and caregivers via mobile phone, a dedicated indoor unit or through integrations with smart speakers.

Soter's commercial targets are $400NZD for hardware and $40NZD/month for the subscription. Final pricing, specifications and subscription terms will be confirmed before you decide whether to proceed.

The founding offer lets you reserve with a $100NZD fully refundable deposit per unit, credited at launch alongside a $300NZD hardware discount when you take a 12-month subscription; at the $400NZD hardware target, that leaves $0NZD to pay for hardware at launch, while any final price difference leaves the discount capped at $300NZD.

Commercial release is targeted for the first half of 2027.

You can reserve from anywhere. If we cannot supply Soter in your country at launch, your $100NZD deposit will be refunded in full.

We will refund your $100NZD deposit in full if we cannot supply Soter in your country at launch.

Yes. The $100NZD deposit is fully refundable any time before you confirm a final order.

If we cannot confirm supply by 31 July 2027, you can keep your reservation or receive a full refund.

No. Raw audio and video are never saved. Soter keeps still images, text summaries and visitor logs, under the household's control.

Soter is designed to connect over Wi-Fi, cellular, or both, so a dropped broadband connection does not take it offline.

A built-in battery backup is designed to keep the system running through power interruptions - often exactly the moment when a visitor at the door matters most.

Soter is built on conversational AI designed to support multiple languages. The Dunedin pilot ran in English; additional-language support is being validated for launch.

Soter was tested in a real-home pilot in Ōtepoti Dunedin, with 8 households using the system at their own front doors.

The government-funded accessibility pilot ran from May–July 2026 and recorded 7,073 doorstep events across 415 household-days. Doorstep events include door-open and sensor activity; 3,158 were conversations with visitors, with a median conversation of 47 seconds. 8 of 8 households asked to continue using Soter.