Enabling Private, Secure Voice Control and Monitoring of New & Legacy Systems
Meridian, Idaho — Sept, 20th 2018 — WiFiRanger, the leader in Innovative RV solutions, today announced their next generation device for RV systems control and monitoring. 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 (e.g. lights, awnings, slides, generators, pumps, battery life, etc). Systems manufacturers can 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 & hidden. Apps, wall panels, annunciators, tablets, and remote access are last decade news. The future is all about AI and voice control, so we built an open based system that meets the challenge.”
Kelly Hogan
CEO & Visionary, WiFiRanger
The Hey Ranger AI Universal Assistant is an accessory that works stand alone 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 insures the privacy and security of an owner’s voice commands and does not require an internet connection to work. So if an RV owner is dry camping in the middle of nowhere he or she can roll over in bed and simply say, “Hey Ranger, start the generator.”
The open approach taken 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. 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… swiping to find the app… waiting for it to load… then figuring out which button to push just to turn on the water pump is, well, 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.”
Kelly Hogan
CEO & Visionary, WiFiRanger
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.
“If you want to call your RV Blaise Pascal, you can record your own wake up word, tuned to your voice, and say, Hey Blaise Pascal, how much water do I have… and the assistant will calculate and respond accordingly.” Hogan joked.
Adding to the convenience of the system, 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, extending usage to those services as well.
WiFiRanger is already working with several systems manufacturers and will debut the prototype system at the Elkhart RV Open House on September 24th-28th. 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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