Ubi: hut, turn to the forest!

You can’t surprise anyone with household devices connected to the Internet and connected to each other: even in Russia, you can, if you wish, buy thermostats-not-let-say-what-company, air-controlled lighting devices or install shutters that can be closed with a tap on a smartphone. The next step is the management of the household by voice.

In recent years, Apple, Google and Microsoft have generously invested in speech recognition technology, encouraging users to increasingly frequent and meaningful voice communication with mobile devices and game consoles. Ubi, a device that went on sale in the United States a few days ago, gives this idea a new direction of development - it's time to try to give commands to home appliances and smart home systems (Ubi is from the ubiquitous computer, “ubiquitous computer”).

Another 2-3 years ago, devices controlled via the Internet were rare. Today, wherever you push - door locks, LED lights, all the same thermostats ... But many of them are controlled through their own mobile or web application.
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Ubi sizes - 10x10x3 cm. Price - $ 299. Developed a voice assistant within the walls of Unified Computer Intelligence Corporation (UCIC), a Toronto-based startup that celebrated its biennium this year. At one time, the company collected almost $ 1 million - of which $ 230 thousand through Kickstarter - and already managed to send out more than 2500 devices to the “early birds”.


It looked like the first version of Ubi.

The Ubi connected to the home wireless network is activated by the “OK, Ubi” command, after which it tries to recognize user commands using Google’s voice services. For answers to questions - like "The capital of New Zealand?" - use the search capabilities of the same Google.

Ubi is equipped with everything you need to conduct small talk. Inside the device - two speakers and two microphones, the sensitivity of which allows you to confidently communicate with the box at a distance of 2.5 meters. In addition, the creators did not stint on the Bluetooth-module for the exchange of information with mobile devices. By the way, Ubi is configured via the Ubi Portal web page or via the UbiCC (Android) mobile application.


Today, Ubi supports the work of almost a hundred devices, applications and services.

The device can not only control the operation of household appliances, responding to commands like “turn on the heating” or “open the blinds in the bedroom”, but also control the operation of audio devices or create entries in the calendar. Ubi is equipped with temperature, humidity, pressure and lighting sensors that can work in different usage scenarios. For example, you can configure the device to automatically send SMS, if someone turned on the light in the room where the gadget is installed, in your absence.

Starters from UCIC will have to do with none other than Apple and its partners - this year, Tim Cook and his company presented a single network protocol for smart devices HomeKit, which almost two dozen of the famous brands volunteered to support.



Like any other product, which is based on speech recognition technology, Ubi is far from 100% accuracy in the recognition of voice commands. If we can bring the mobile device to the mouth, it is unlikely that the user will make unnecessary movements to go to the gadget and agree with him about a favor - it's easier to go and turn on the air conditioner yourself. A working television, a few people talking, a baby’s crying can have a pretty strong effect on Ubi’s work: “In general, speech recognition is still a problem,” admits Leor Grebler, the general director of UCIC.

Another important point: communicating with Ubi, you have to accurately formulate your request, without any equivocation - in principle, everyone who has ever tried to communicate with voice assistants is familiar with this feature. According to Grebler, among the goals of his team is to teach Ubi to recognize the nuances and nuances of speech: “The question“ do I need an umbrella? ”Can mean“ what is the weather now? ”, And“ isn't it time to buy a new umbrella? ”... A difficult task awaits us ".



Information about the filling of Ubi on the manufacturer's website you will not find. But Kickstarter has specifications for the device that was sent to users who supported the project:

OS: Android 4.1
Processor: ARM Cortex-A8 800 MHz
RAM: 1 GB
Connectivity: 802.11 b / n / g (supports WEP, WPA, WPA2), Bluetooth 4.0
Sensors: temperature, humidity, pressure, lighting
Connector: USB 2.0 (for power)

The following materials were used in the preparation of the article: the manufacturer's website , the article The Ubi Lets You Speak to Your Smart Home , the project page on Kickstarter.