Why just the other day I was writing about a new voice recognition chip that promises to improve upon what I find to be a frustrating and flawed technology. And lo and behold what do I come upon but a voice-activated TV remote control by InVoca.
Sold through SmartHome’s Web site, this $44.99 device may score coolness points for the host of a viewing event, but it also might seal our nation’s fate as the laziest in the world. First came the remote, which kept us from having to leave our seat to change the ol’ black and white. Now we don’t even have to lift our arm to point the silly thing at the TV. You know where this is going: thought-activated remote control. Don’t scoff. The R & D folk at some company are surely working out the telepathic details.
Back to the InVoca. It can control up to 4 A/V devices (cable, TV, DVR, DVD, etc.), and can be programmed for up to 25 single-word commands and 25 multi-step commands. Just like setting macros with a smart home controller, this little beauty can respond to a voice-activated command like “Movie” by initiating a series of pre-programmed events—TV turns on, DVD player powers up, tray opens, etc. The InVoca 3.0 can be programmed to respond to four different users, in any language or accent. (This is the part where I say, “So it claims – I’d love to hear personal accounts.”) The remote has a battery charging cradle, which is a nice touch.
Seriously—it is the epitome of laziness, but for $44.99 it’s a pretty cheap way to impress the guys when they come over for the game.
Between watching re-runs of the “The Jetsons” and convincing his Insteon and Z-Wave controls to get along, Ben Hardy is immersed in the world of home automation, home control, and home networking.
At this date in time, trying to pull off VA/VR on a $40 CE product is plain dumb. VR is a viable tool and I do believe it has a viable future in HA. Background noise, speech tone changes there are considerable hurdles but VR in the right situation can work quite well right now. Pre-learned out-of-box VR can be very effective, again given the right circumstances. What would be one? Sitting on your commode and needing to execute a function; don’t laugh, some people spend a lot of time on their pottys aptly know as The Reading Center. Is this a place where you want to be fooling with a touchscreen?
Yeah, I found a review that suggested the VR leaves a little something to be desired. Changes in one’s pitch throw the remote off, and it won’t respond. Basically you have to speak exactly like you did when training the remote in order for it to work. In other words, just like my cell phone’s voice dialing feature…
Sounds interesting. All great and widely used technologies began in this fashion...something kind of cool, kinda works, etc. The ultimate automated enviroinment will surely have voice activation involved.
I did a quick search on this product. It is a dog,. It does not respond to voice commands in any way that would make you anything but angry. You would toss it in the garbage if getting your money back was not an option.
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in my last post I misspoke. Sony owns Columbia pictures as well as MGM and… 
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This looked like a good remote for my 80 year old father, who has dementia to the level that he cannot connect with the right buttons on even a simple remote (read this as: remotes have other practical uses beyond accomodating the lazy). I cannot even talk him through pressing the correct buttons while I guide him over the phone so he can get the right channel for the ball game. BUT, I could get him to say “Channel 36” or “Power” into a VR capable remote. But given the reviews here, I will wait for a better product.