No. 308: Use your voice to operate an air-conditioner (September 13, 2010)

An air-conditioner that can be operated by voice has been developed by Toshiba Home Appliances, one of Toshiba’s group companies. The special remote control can recognize 26 kinds of voice instructions to operate an air-conditioner. The company said this is the world’s first voice-controlled air-conditioner. It was named “Daiseikai (Very clean and comfortable).” The desk remote control with built-in microphone recognizes the voice of the user and operates the air-conditioner using infrared data communication. You need to clap your hand three times or push the button of the remote control to activate the voice recognition function. You can set the temperature by saying such phrases as “It is cold” and “It is hot.”

It will be put on the market early November, and the sales price will presumably be between 210,000 and 330,000 yen. The desk remote control can work with Toshiba’s TV sets and LED lighting fixtures. You can switch on a Toshiba’s TV set by addressing to it with a word “Television.” The monthly production is scheduled to be 20,000 units.