Dutch semiconductor company NXP held the grand opening of its smart home innovation lab in the Oak Hill neighborhood on May 22.
Ron Martino, executive vice president and chief sales officer at NXP, said the facility demonstrates NXP's commitment to growth and innovation in Austin.
Abstract
NXP's new lab resembles a fully-furnished home equipped with smart home technology, including a hallway, garage, kitchen, bedroom, fitness room and media center.
For example, the front door is unlocked using new facial recognition and fingerprint technology, and the bedroom is equipped with a queen-size bed that can track your heart rate and adjust the temperature while you sleep.
By installing voice assistant technology in each room, users can control lights, blinds, TVs, etc. with voice commands. Unlike cloud-based systems like Alexa or Google Nest, NXP has developed the technology to run on a local neural processing unit, which NXP officials say will improve speed and reliability, especially when the internet goes down.
NXP's new smart home innovation lab in South Austin is designed as a fully furnished house so engineers can test new smart home technologies in a home environment. (Courtesy of NXP)
How to use
NXP works with companies such as Sleep Number and Honeywell to integrate microchip technology into everyday products.
“We're not in the business of selling thermostats,” Martino says, “but we're enabling anyone who makes a thermostat to differentiate their product.”
Some of NXP's smart home products are already available for purchase, while other inventions will require product testing over the coming years.
NXP's new smart home innovation lab in South Austin is designed as a fully furnished house so engineers can test new smart home technologies in a home environment. (Courtesy of NXP)
What they're saying
“We've built a truly unique space in Austin that was designed from the ground up to foster joint collaboration and innovation,” said Lars Reger, executive vice president and chief technology officer. “The Smart Home Lab truly embodies our vision of bringing together great minds to develop groundbreaking new technologies to make the world a better, safer and more secure place.”