Is 2012 the Year for Voice Control?

Few aspects of “smart home” technology have been lampooned as much as voice control. Consumers who think they’re really hip still love to cite, “Open the pod bay doors, HAL.” Very clever, like all those stale references to the Jetsons.

More recently, voice recognition has been famously skewered by Howard Stern and the sitcom The Big Bang Theory.

In the real world, though, it’s not that funny anymore. Why? Because we’re so used to barking orders at our cell phone to “dial so-and-so” or “play such-and-such.” And we think nothing of people wandering around seemingly talking to themselves instead of a phone friend through a nearly invisible ear bud.

It’s hardly laughable anymore when we ask our friendly GPS for directions to the nearest McDonald’s, even when we have to clarify (i.e., scream) “McDONALDS!” a few times.

Voice control is gradually losing its stigma - just like driving ugly, wimpy energy-efficient cars. It’s becoming an acceptable and downright laudable behavior.

What has spurred this increasingly “normal” behavior? First off is the mobile revolution and, with it, a rash of distracted driver laws that beg for hands-free solutions. Technology is generally keeping up with those needs, and in turn spurring interest in its use for other applications like home automation and entertainment.

But there’s another dynamic at work: Today there is a dizzying array of stuff you can do with technology, little of which can be adequately enjoyed because the options overwhelm. The options (er, opportunities) are so overwhelming, in fact, that it seems consumers are ready to go back to the olden days of an-interface-for-every-app.

Remember when our fancy touchscreens were darn near the easiest things to operate when it came to picking a song or a zone or a whole-house scene? Now users must drill through layers of menus to find exactly what they’re looking for - even in the most well-crafted interface. Furthermore, they actually have to look at their screen and free up a hand or two to punch buttons and swipe and other touchscreeny things. That can be challenging when the hands are full or the interface device is not readily accessible.


Forget Howard Stern and The Big Bang Theory - for a laugh-out-loud spoof on speech recognition, check out these two Scottish guys trying to operate an elevator via voice.

There’s got to be a better way.

Voice control is one better way, especially now that Apple has delivered the highly regarded and heavily hacked Siri voice-recognition interface. Now Microsoft is following suit with voice recognition for Kinect.

There are other promising “alternative input technologies” as well, including biometrics, gesture control, near field communication (NFC) and RFID.

Are you prepared for these technologies? What can you do to support them? Install motion-sensing cameras for gesture control? Extra Cat 5 to door locations for access control via voice, NFC or RFID? Wireless accommodations for a slew of new communications protocols?

All of these technologies are available and working quite well today. When you think about the next generation of user interfaces for your clients, keep them in mind.

And I say that to manufacturers as well. Why not a biometric reader on your remote controls? Each family member has 10 different fingers that could activate 10 different parentally-controlled functions.

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