News

Touch Panel Control Announces Voice Control Integration for Mainstream Home Automation (1/6/2012)

“Honey, I’m home!” Voice Control For The Smart Home Has Arrived

Once the preserve of science fiction, voice controlled devices have now reached mainstream popularity and are expected to shape the future landscape of human interfaces. Developments in technology now make speech control a realistic and exciting prospect for any automation project.

Touch Panel Control, a mobile software development company and authorised product partner of AMX, have developed the first voice control integration for mainstream home automation. It's called VoiceControl and it marks the beginning of spoken control for AMX automated environments.

“The success of Siri on the iPhone uncovered significant demand for consumer voice control but there has previously been no means to integrate the feature into third party applications. VoiceControl changes that. It brings voice control technology to the user of a smart environment and TPControl with AMX was first to introduce it” says Michael Edwards, Managing Director of Touch Panel Control.

VoiceControl is activated through an interface widget that visually prompts the user for their command. Once a period of silence is detected the command is analysed or the user may submit the completed request manually with an onscreen button – useful in noisier environments. It’s possible to then send the recognised text back to the user to be confirmed before taking action. The same feature also allows the command, or any other text, to be spoken back to the user.

“Our early adopters of VoiceControl have shown it to integrate very effectively with existing applications, adding another level of interaction that users love,” said Tristan Graham, Product Manager,Touch Panel Control.

VoiceControl can process in excess of 50 accent types and languages - particularly handy for multi-user environments. Nearly all of these languages are also available in the text-to-speech feature as well.

Ben Flux, TPControl Business Development Manager, predicts that smart environments will become a ubiquitous part of future buildings, “Automation systems have historically been high-end options for companies and private clients who could afford them, but greater diffusion and development of control technologies by companies like AMX is changing this. Infrastructure facilities such as air-conditioning, lighting and security are becoming highly integrated and corporate energy consumption is being scrutinized, so automated systems along with intuitive, user-friendly interfaces will become commonplace by necessity. Voice control is a natural method of controlling that environment and it’s available now.”

TPControl with VoiceControl is compatible with most smartphones and tablets such as the iPhone, iPad and those running an Android based platform.

See VoiceControl in action with Logan Moore from the Touch Panel Control Team as he demonstrates the finer detail in this video - www.youtu.be/42x7JWWhTOY.

For further information, go to:

www.touchpanelcontrol.com