CIE Components in Electronics
Centrica Hive Limited is launching the Hive Hub 360 today, a smart home hub that uses AI technology to detect and react to important sounds around the home. This ability to hear like a human makes the Hive Hub 360 more helpful, as it can react appropriately based on what it recognises and will send a notification to your smartphone via the Hive app to let you know. It therefore doesn’t need to wait for commands from its owner, and provides extra peace of mind when you’re away. For example, on hearing your dog barking it can send a notification to your phone, so you can hear whether they are in trouble, barking at a stranger or just being noisy and take the appropriate action.
Audio Analytic, the pioneer of cloudless artificial audio intelligence, provides Centrica Hive Limited with the software which gives the new Hive Hub 360 its humanlike sense of hearing. Audio Analytic’s software currently enables the Hive Hub 360 to recognise and react to three key sounds that need action: glass in windows or doors breaking, dogs barking and smoke or Carbon Monoxide alarms sounding.
“Our customers are at the heart of everything we do and we are always looking for the latest innovative technology to make their lives easier,” comments Tom Guy Global product director, Centrica Hive Limited. “Working with Audio Analytic has given us the opportunity to build in the very latest sound recognition technology into the Hive Hub 360. Combining form and function, the hub is stylishly designed as the centrepiece for the Hive ecosystem, while also giving our customers extra peace of mind when away from their homes.”
Audio Analytic’s software, ai3, has been designed with privacy in mind. While it will detect and react to specific sounds that it has been calibrated for, it does not send data to the cloud continuously for analysis. Using edge-based intelligence, ai3 processes sounds locally without depending on vast computing resources or streaming constantly to the cloud.
Commenting on the emergence of sound recognition as a vital technology for smart homes, Francisco Jeronimo, research director at IDC said: “The sense of hearing is essential in the AI world, as it enables devices to understand context, which is the ability of the device to identify different sounds from the environment and understand whether an action needs to be taken or not.
“IDC believes that sound recognition is a key strategic technology that should be made available in all connected devices that will use AI to offer unique experiences to their users, by providing context-awareness to their personal digital assistants.”
