Intelligent Speakers Act Like Ironman’s J.A.R.V.I.S.

HunyB, the latest addition to the Z-Wave Alliance, will allow users to control their entire smart home using only their voice. (Image courtesy of Z-Wave Alliance).

Z-Wave Labs has announced the latest winner of their Internet of Things (IoT) design competition. The winner is Huny Beacon from Hive Connected. It is an intelligent speaker system for the home, not unlike Tony Stark’s robotic assistant J.A.R.V.I.S.

Giving an IoT Voice to The Home

The Huny Beacon, or HunyB, aims to be the voice of a smart home of interconnected Z-Wave devices. The system plugs into a standard outlet and will recognize voice commands and other sounds.

For example, users will be able to ask for their favorite music to play over their smart sound system while the HunyB proactively listens for audio cues it can react to, such as smoke alarms or breaking glass.

The real strength of HunyB lies in its ability to interact with third-party smart devices. The system will come with an array of sensors that will track environmental conditions in the home such as temperature, humidity, lighting and air quality. It can then share this data with other Z-Wave devices, such as a smart thermostat, to trigger responses beyond its own functionality.

Will Ironman’s J.A.R.V.I.S. Ride the Z-Wave to Control Smart Homes?

(Image courtesy of Marvel.)

The HunyB is not the first intelligent speaker system designed for home use. The Amazon Echo is a similar system that’s been in wide release since June 2015. Although the Echo has found some modest success, it is favored primarily by dedicated Amazon customers.

The Amazon Echo highlights a main barrier to the widespread adoption of smart home devices: consumers want a product that will work with all their devices, rather than being entrenched within a single brand’s ecosystem.

The Z-Wave Alliance, a consortium of more than 375 industry leaders working to bring interoperability to residential IoT via the Z-Wave platform, may be the solution to this barrier. Chad Rasmussen, CEO of Hive Connected, sees Z-Wave as the best choice for the HunyB.

“We knew from the minute we started designing the Huny Beacon that we had to include Z-Wave. We want our solution to be as compatible with as many systems as possible, and give consumers a unique solution that plays nice with a broad ecosystem – for that, Z-Wave is the obvious choice.”

For winning the Z-Wave Labs competition, Hive Connected will receive membership in the Z-Wave Alliance as well as access to the Z-Wave IoT-ready 500 series development kits.

For more on IoT interoperability and communication protocol read: What Engineers Need to Know about Communication Protocols When Choosing IoT Management Software.