LG has announced a new platform for users to interface with its range of home appliances. HomeChat is a mechanism to humanize the often-robotic interactions with refrigerators, dryers and ovens by utilizing Natural Language Processing.
Partnering with Line, one of the world’s most popular messaging apps, users will be able to talk to certain appliances to make things happen. For example, before leaving on vacation, one can text his or her fridge to turn on low-power mode.
Perhaps more important than chatting with your appliances, LG HomeChat is a way to consolidate and “smarten” the appliances used most often in the home. Of course, at the moment it relies on having LG-branded electronics, but it is a sign of things to come: a single place to interact with previously-individual and disparate pieces of technology.
LG’s 2014 Smart Appliance lineup includes a washer/dryer set, an oven, a smart refrigerator and a new robot vacuum cleaner. Line is a good partner, too, because it is available on nearly every mobile and desktop platform, including Android, iOS, BlackBerry 10, Windows Phone, Windows and OS X.
[source]LG[/source]
