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A day with VIKI – 24 hours in 4 minutes [VIDEO]
The idea of a connected home has been around for many years, in the way of controlling the home from your mobile phone, tablet and, more recently, with the help of a virtual assistant. Nowadays, there are countless solutions that allow you to turn on the lights, turn the TV on or off, set the room temperature. But can they be called “smart”, as long as the action is initiated from the phone, tablet, voice or pre-programmed by a technician who hard-codes the actions of the “smart” house?
We dare to say, after many discussions with users of smart homes and specialists, during the event IMWorld 2018, that only the VIKI system behaves like a true virtual butler, who knows your habits and preferences.
VIKI has that added artificial intelligence needed for any connected home solution, so that, once installed, it will turn your home into a truly intelligent one. VIKI means more than just connecting devices to a common database, implementing algorithms to learn user preferences, managing to become a partner. Specifically, VIKI intelligence will learn by itself to control the lights, the temperature, the windows blinds, the multimedia equipment in the house, analyzing the current context and acting on the patterns identified in the previous experience.
VIKI is no longer just an idea, it is a reality, implemented in homes as real as possible. We spent a day with VIKI in an apartment in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, and we observed it “at work”. Within a few weeks after installation, VIKI learned the preferences of the owner of the house. VIKI turns on the radio with the favorite news program in “Good Morning” mode, it raises the blinds, brews the coffee and turns on the right lights, in the right rooms.
When the owner leaves the house, VIKI locks the door, turns off the lights and continues to “work” during the users’ absence: it waters the plants, it lowers the blinds if the sun is too strong, it watches that everything is in order and it sends alerts on the user’s mobile phone if the sensors detect smoke (fire alert), gas or water (flood alert), if a door or window has been opened (break-in alert).
For each scenario, VIKI knows how to act: it permanently learns when the user is at home and performs pre-programmed actions when the user is away or is resting. When the user returns home, the temperature is just right, and the lights turn on when needed. In the evening, it’s VIKI, again, that creates the proper conditions for relaxation and rest.
We invite you to watch the video to understand why VIKI is special and unique in the field of home automation systems.
Did you forget a window open? VIKI takes care of the house on any weather
The rainy and cool season is here, the season with capricious and often surprising weather – as we have seen in recent days. We no longer sleep with the windows open at night, but in the morning we have to open the windows, let the fresh autumn air enter the house. It’s just that in the morning we are too hurried and sometimes inattentive, forgetting to leave the house in order, so that when we return we have the comfort and peace that we have been waiting for all day.
VIKI helps us, again. The scenario is well known to everyone: in a hurry, we leave the windows open in the morning, forgetting to check the weather forecast. A few minutes of rain is enough, if it is torrential and the wind is still blowing, on the way back we may find a small flood or at least wet objects around the window.
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You can now control the smart home VIKI with your voice
VIKI and Alexa became closer friends this summer. The last time we told you about the “relationship” between the artificial intelligence VIKI and the Amazon Echo Dot (code name: Alexa) was in May, when compatibility tests were in progress.
Since then, the VIKI team has been able to integrate more and more voice commands into the application, commands that VIKI is currently able to execute promptly: setting a room temperature, displaying the weather forecast, opening the door, turning on / off the TV, playing / stopping the music player and more.
Thus, now we can talk directly to our virtual “butler”, and soon we will not need (too much) phone / tablet anymore, it will be enough to use our voice in order to control the intelligent house VIKI.
The proof can be seen in the latest video shot by the VIKI team during the tests.
Should we automate the central heating with DANFOSS LIVING CONNECT Z or Stella Z Eurotronic?
After a 2016/2017 winter with many nights and days below 15 degrees Celsius, we can draw some conclusions about the use of thermostatic heads to control heating on radiators, connected to a classic apartment boiler.
Both Danfoss Living Connect and Stella Z are robust products in terms of manufacturing, with an obvious design gain for Danfoss. This, through the LCD screen on which you can view the temperature and the status signaling icons, as well as the manual temperature adjustment buttons, brings an extra ease to use.
Continue reading “Should we automate the central heating with DANFOSS LIVING CONNECT Z or Stella Z Eurotronic?” »