LISTNR ENABLES YOU TO CONTROL SMART STUFF WITH A CLAP AND A STOMP

Posted By Simon Montford on Feb 20, 2015

The smart home of the future will be packed with all kinds of weird and wonderful products, but how will we choose to control them? Will people prefer to use voice commands, gesture or sound? Well a Japanese-based company called Interphenom think we will use sound. The company's "listening assistant" is a device called Listnr, which enables products like the Philips Hue smart light to be controlled using sounds such as clapping, finger clicking and floor stamping.  

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Obvious use cases are entering a room while carrying a child, or when your hands are full of boxes or bags of groceries. If the wrong commands are used, the device could become confused, which could then lead to some aggressive stomping and loud yelling, which could lead to further confusion.


Anyway, it will be an interesting experiment for those that choose to purchase a Listnr, providing the company reaches its funding goal on Kickstarter. Personally, I am not convinced that I need one of these in my life. One final feature is that it can analyse voices, so one obvious application would be to use it as a baby monitor. I'm not sure, however, if parents are crying out for a machine that tells them if their child is happy or sad based on the noises they make!


If you'd like to pre-order one, the regular price is $199 (£129), but the early bird discount of $99 (£64) is still available. The estimated shipping date is August 2015. International shipping will be offered for an undisclosed sum.