Meridian, Idaho-based WiFiRanger has launched the next generation device for RV systems control and monitoring. According to a press release, the “Hey Ranger” AI Universal Assistant is an offline, artificial intelligence assistant with a custom vocabulary and skillset that allows voice control of nearly any kind of RV component or system.
Systems manufacturers can also build open based “skills” that allow the Hey Ranger AI Universal Assistant to manage and report system status for their unique RV component.
“After mastering the RV connectivity solution we turned our innovative technology team to the next major industry challenge: use voice control and AI to make complex technology in RVs simple and hidden,” stated CEO Kelly Hogan. “The future is all about AI and voice control, so we built an open based system that meets the challenge.”
The Hey Ranger AI Universal Assistant is a stand-alone accessory that works with WiFiRanger functionality or in conjunction with any generation of WiFiRanger. Owners can easily install skills through the WiFiRanger control panel for a variety of “Hey Ranger Ready” systems and immediately control those systems via voice.
The system is entirely self contained which means it does not need the online cloud for processing voice or AI functions. This localized platform ensures the privacy and security of an owner’s voice commands and does not require an Internet connection to work.
The open approach allows OE’s to select from the best system solutions on the market, and then request vendors to provide their control protocols to build skills that sync with the WIFIRanger, or, use one of the hardware bridges that WIFRanger has engineered to run each proprietary system solution. Moreover, the system allows OE’s to create custom brand vocabularies for the learning engine so that unique features and areas in an RV can be summoned by the assistant.
“Listening to our nearly 100,000 direct customers and OE’s implementing new technology, we heard some consistent themes,” continued Hogan. “Phone apps, inconsistent wall annunciators, and other clunky systems can make technology in the RV more of a burden than a convenience. Picking up your tablet and swiping to find the app, waiting for it to load and then figuring out which button to push just to turn on the water pump is cumbersome. It’s much faster and more natural to simply say… ‘Hey Ranger, turn on the pump’ and let the AI figure out what switch is where, what vendor pump, and how to do it.”
WIFIRanger also facilitates complete owner security and privacy by allowing customers to record their own wakeup word for their RV or implement a dialogue verbal PIN prior to performing an action.
Once the Hey Ranger AI Universal Assistant is online via the WiFiRanger, it can be summoned to temporarily act like an AlexaTM or OK GoogleTM device if the owner has accounts for those services.
WiFiRanger is already working with several systems manufacturers and will debut the prototype system at next week’s Elkhart RV Open House. The prototype will include showcasing voice control of lights, awnings, pumps, fans, and monitoring of legacy tank systems through a custom hardware bridge.
Initial shipments are scheduled for key OE’s in Q1 2019 with volume deliveries scheduled for model change mid 2019, and skills developed for a variety of system components.
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