Home hubs get smarter with help from Audio Analytic
The £99 Hive Hub 360 adds smarter sound recognition
Gas giant Centrica has added the Hive Hub 360, which uses sound recognition technology from Audio Analytic, to its smart home range.
The Hive Hub 360, priced at £99, is the latest device to be added to the Centrica Hive consumer range.
The smart home hub, available in black or white, links all the user’s Hive products and can recognise the sound of smoke and CO alarms, dogs barking or windows being broken.
Hive Hub 360 is integrated with Hive Actions, a feature that enables users to connect their Hive products together through the app so their home works seamlessly around them. Hive Actions integrates a home’s thermostat to its smoke alarm to its musical hub to the lighting to the fridge, and so on. The innovative ability to hear has been enabled by embedding Cambridge-based Audio Analytic’s cloudless ai3 software on the device.
“Working with Audio Analytic has given us the opportunity to build in the very latest sound recognition technology into the Hive Hub 360,” said Tom Guy, global product director at Centrica Hive. “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 CEO and founder, Dr Chris Mitchell, said: “The smart home is finally living up to its promise. Hive’s Hub 360 brings clever AI into people’s homes that can help them by providing extra peace of mind and greater security.
“People can do so much with artificial intelligence within consumer products. We’ve seen better computer vision technology, as well as voice assistants and music recognition, enter the mass market recently and sound recognition is a really important part of contextual awareness.
“By launching this product, Hive is firmly positioning itself as a leader in innovation and a champion of seamless consumer experiences.”
Centrica Hive has also launched its Hive Actions app, which allows users to preset responses to specific sound events, for instance turning the lights on if your dog barks at night.
