Smart speakers have come along since their inception. These AI-powered devices can now control your TV, shop online for you, answer queries about virtually anything and soon they'll even be able to turn on your oven on and cook food for you.

The "Kevin" smart speaker aims to do something a bit more ambitious, though: prevent burglars from breaking into your home when you're not around. Revealed at CES 2018 and developed by Swiss company Mitipi, Kevin is a pretty unassuming device upon first glance. With a triangular design and a simple fabric surface, it looks like just about any other smart speaker out there, if a bit oddly shaped.

Kevin aims to stand out by acting as a "virtual roommate," ensuring that your house or apartment is "revived" during your absence. This means that the device will be able to intelligently control smart home devices and play sounds to "[create] the impression of residents who [move] in space and do everyday things."

In the preview video shown by Mitipi, a man leaves his home (with the door open) only for a burglar to sneak in behind him. After the home owner activates Kevin's security measures outside of the house, the device begins to simulate the sounds of a shower being run, teeth being brushed and more. Exactly how the device will pull this sort of thing off remains to be seen.

Mitipi's vision to "create a world in which the term burglary only appears in history books" may be a bit hyperbolic but the idea of giving the appearance of occupancy to an otherwise-unoccupied home is far from a bad one.

At any rate, if Kevin's concept sounds interesting to you, Mitipi will be launching the device on Kickstarter within the next month somewhere between $200 and $250.