Jibo

Jibo

The Internet of Things boom is only going to grow stronger than ever in 2015, and we’ve already seen plenty of truly remarkable intelligent and connected devices on our virtual pages. There’s the table that detects the food placed upon it and makes recipe suggestions, and the Roost smart battery which replaces standard 9V batteries in any smoke alarm to upgrade it with smart capabilities.

The Roost demonstrates a trend we expect to see more of over the next few years: retrofitted smart device upgrades. Until the cost of smart devices comes down, products that promise to upgrade existing “dumb” devices should do well. With the rise of the Internet of Things will also come the need for intelligent interfaces for users to control all of their devices.

We’ve seen the Homey system that uses voice recognition to enable users to simply speak orders to their home, but it was Jibo which stood above the rest. A cross between Pixar’s animated lamp and R2-D2, Jibo is a friendly robot that uses facial recognition and natural language processing to offer personal assistance in the home. Jibo learns what its owners’ faces look like, as well as their voices, so it knows who’s speaking to it and who it’s addressing in its Siri-like natural voice. It can sync with other smart appliances and learn homeowners’ preferences and daily habits.