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Samsung Electronics’ Family Hub refrigerator

Samsung Electronics is preparing for a new age of smart homes where consumers will be able to control the appliances in their house via their smartphones. In a report released on Aug. 22, Samsung revealed that the company was gearing up for the smart home era, planning to add smart functions to home appliances by 2020.

The first technology to be applied is artificial intelligence equipped with voice recognition technology that can process natural language. The Family Hub, a Samsung refrigerator model, will evolve into a voice-operated product that is connected to other appliances in the home. While adding innovation to individual products, Samsung also plans to launch an app called ‘Samsung Connect’ that can be used on all devices and operating systems to control the network of appliances using cloud technology. Bixby, Samsung’s voice recognition system, will be added to Samsung smartphones so that the devices can function as an intelligent personal secretary that controls appliances with the Samsung Connect app.

Based on the information and data collected through smart appliances, Samsung plans to provide a guide next year that can detect and fix irregularities in products in real-time. For example, if the outdoor unit of an air conditioner detects an irregularly high temperature, the system would send a smartphone alert to the user to inspect the area around the outdoor unit, even if the user had not noticed any change in the air conditioner’s performance. In this way, Samsung’s new service will solve problems automatically without requiring a call to the company’s service center.

By Lee Wan, staff reporter

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