Smart home technology has been a boon to many who have been self-isolating or obeying lockdown rules over recent months, helping them to automate certain chores and make life easier.

Video doorbells are no exception, usefully letting you check who's at the door, and ask them to leave deliveries behind or offering the opportunity to explain that you're in quarantine, for example.

However, a fatal flaw in most doorbells' systems is that they still require a good old-fashioned button press for your visitor to activate them, leaving you with the task of cleaning and disinfecting the button every time you're concerned about it. 

Arlo has taken note, and used the opportunity of CES to announce that it will soon launch a new version of its Video Doorbell that uses motion and proximity sensing tech to eliminate the need for a button-press at all. 

When someone gets within your chosen distance of the doorbell, it'll chime for you indoors, and emit a light to let them know it's been activated. From that point, it's a normal video doorbell and you can proceed as you like.

It's a nice, thoughtful addition that acknowledges the fact that even with vaccines slowly spreading, there's every chance that we'll be living with some version of COVID restrictions for some time to come.