Connected Devices/Projects/Vaani
| Project Vaani |
|---|
 |
| Author(s) |
| Mozilla |
| Released |
| 2016.01.06 (Initial Pitch) |
| 2016.01.28 (Pitch Update) |
| Innovation Status |
| Stage 1 (Validation) |
| Website |
| http://vaani.io/ |
Vaani aims to bring a voice to the Internet of Things (IoT) using open, Mozilla-backed technologies. We believe a voice interface is the most natural way to interact with connected devices, but currently, there are no open solutions available at scale. With Vaani, we plan to offer an "IoT enabler package" to developers, device makers, and end users who want to add a voice interface to their devices in a flexible and customizable way, while avoiding the need to “lock-in” with one of the major commercial players. Initially, Vaani will target smart homes, but will eventually expand to voice-enable a wider range of applications of IoT.
If you would like to get involved with Project Vaani as a tester, developer or adviser, you can get in touch with our connected devices participation team.
Project overview
At present, there is gap in the industry gap for an open voice solution for connected devices and IoT, and the existing commercial players are moving quickly to lock-in users, partners and developers. This is part of their "staircase" approach by building steps like voice interface, IoT back-end, user data collection, and AI, to create long term lock-in. For example, if you are a hardware maker or a developer looking to voice-enable your gadget, the most clearly defined path is to commit to one of the big players.
We believe we need to challenge the status quo here. At least, create a "wedge in the door" before everything becomes completely closed. Merely enabling a voice interface should not have to lock you down. Imagine if you could only buy an Apple or Samsung device if you wanted to use touch interface. Voice is critical, especially for connected devices, as user interfaces make way for other user experiences as we go about their daily lives.
Project status
Right now, the Vaani team is brainstorming how we can create our own unique solution that does not have to compete (or catch up) with the existing players like Siri and Google Now. Their solutions have had the head start user bases to improve on quality and scope. Rather, we need to offer something that is possibly focused on fewer segments (or categories) and is meaningfully better. Our solutions could work really well for specific categories, be better at working offline / online, have a smaller memory footprint and do all this without the lock-ins. For developers, it can be something they can configure, enhance, add languages and customize, something that feels and sounds like Mozilla.
We are currently in a validation phase of our product innovation process. If you would like get involved, you may get in touch with our connected devices participation team.
Team
- Sandip Kamat - Product
- Andre Natal - Speech Engineer
- Kelly Davis - Speech Engineer
- Tilman Kamp - Engineer
- David Flanagan - Engineer (Part time)
- Gregor Wagner - Engineer Manager (Part time)
- Aaron Wu - Project Manager (Part time)
- Tiffanie Shakespeare - UI/UX (Part time)
- Eric Pang - UI/UX (Part time)
- Marcia Knous - QA
- Kate Glazko - QA
- Mahendranadh Potharaju - Release Manager (Part time)
