Josh.ai and Control4 — A Complete Home Automation Experience Together
When searching for a robust yet straightforward home automation system, look no further than Josh.ai + Control4. Josh.ai is a privacy-focused industry leader in voice control, natural language, and privacy-focused artificial intelligence. Complement Josh with one of our fantastic partner brands like Control4, and you have a fully connected home automation experience.
A home automation system is the backbone of a smart home. Inside a smart home, you can expect to see motorized shades, controllable lights, music throughout the house, TVs, touch panels, remote controls, and more. Josh.ai and Control4 combine to provide an amazing experience for anyone who walks into the home.
What is Josh.AI?
Josh.ai is a privacy-focused, AI-driven platform specializing in voice control, luxury home automation, and user experience. The platform can be used as a stand-alone control system or in conjunction with our great partners. Josh.ai currently offers Josh Micro, the luxury smart microphone built for the home, and will soon be shipping Josh Nano and Josh Core. These new products will take the smart home to the next level with almost invisible microphones in the Nano and a powerful rack processor in Josh Core.
What is Control4?
Control4 is a provider of automation and networking systems for homes and businesses. The company offers a personalized and unified smart home system to control and automate multiple devices, including lights, shades, touch screens, climate control, intercom, and more. Josh.ai and Control4, when paired together, create a truly magical home experience.
Josh.ai and Control4 Together
Josh.ai’s partnership with Control4 gives clients the power of privacy-focused voice control over their entire home system. Instead of an experience that feels like two different systems stitched together, we wanted to build a complete home control experience using Josh.ai’s and Control4’s strengths together.
We will be going through the simple setup process of adding Control4 to a Josh project. Then, we will show a few examples of just how powerful the integration between Josh.ai and Control4 can be.
The Magic of Josh.ai and Control4
Integrating Josh with Control4 makes for a more robust experience when using voice control than any other option. There is no need to hardcode / program voice commands or memorize specific phrases. At Josh, we feel that what you say should be understood, processed, and executed. We do not want to have anyone memorizing specific commands to do simple things, like turning on the lights.
Instead of memorized pre-programmed phrases, Josh uses natural voice commands. Josh processes and understands the intent of what is trying to be accomplished — this gives Josh that “magic” feel.
- You can always control by device type in terms of natural language, such as “open the shades to 50%.” But there are many ways to say that same command, and Josh understands them all, including “raise the shades halfway,” “open the shade halfway,” and “lift the shades 1/2 way.” You can also control devices by floor, room, or individual device. For example, “Open the shades on the first floor,” or “Raise the shades halfway in the Kitchen.”
- Josh also understands similar nicknames, so if you name a room named “gym,” Josh knows it’s the same as “workout room” and “exercise room.”
- With Josh, you can give compound commands such as, “turn on the kitchen lights, open the garage doors, and play the Beatles.”
- Josh also utilizes anaphora, which means Josh remembers what command was previously given. This enables a client the ability to say “turn on the TV,” and then you can follow up with, “make it louder” or “turn it off.”
The integration between Josh and Control4 also works with the Josh mobile app, pictured below. With this app, you can give voice commands right from your phone and control every part of your smart home from anywhere in the world.
Josh Commands
“Listen to Hey Jude by the Beatles on the first floor and listen to Frank Sinatra on the second floor.”
“Turn on the lights in the bedrooms.”
“Close all the shades.”
“Raise the shades halfway in the master suite, and listen to some music.”
“Watch a video of dogs riding skateboards.”
“Set the lights on the first floor to 50 percent, open the shades on the second floor, and play the Beatles in the backyard.”
“Turn off the Master bedroom” — Turns off lights, music, fans, and TVs
“Listen to some workout music in the gym and relaxing music in the master bedroom.”
“It’s too bright in here” — Josh will dim the lights.
“It’s too dark in here” — Josh will brighten the lights.
“I’m cold” — Josh will raise the thermostat.
“Announce in the kids’ bedrooms, ‘Kids, please come downstairs for dinner. — This Will play a recording in a specific room or set of rooms of the person’s voice who gave the announcement.
“Turn off the TV and lights in the kids’ bedrooms” — Just in case the kids don’t come downstairs.
These are just a few of the commands you can give instantly with natural language.
Advancing Automation Through Voice
Josh and our partnered brands continue to work hard to bring more functionality. Typically in a control system, clients are used to hitting a button or selecting an icon on their touch screen to transform the house into whatever mode they want instantly. From entertainment and party modes to relax and goodnight modes, all clients have their individual preferences. Sometimes, we want to say one command to trigger a bunch of different events to happen. This is where voice scenes come in. In the next blog, we will dive deeper into the scene creation, and give example scenes you can create using Josh and Control4.
We only touched the surface of what can be done with the integration between Josh and Control4. We hope to keep adding new functionality to our partnered integrations as we continue to grow. Thanks to our incredible partnered brands like Control4 and all the Josh team’s work, Josh is continuing to be a staple in luxury automation systems across the United States. Check out https://www.josh.ai/devices to get familiar with what brands we currently work with and what brands we will partner with in the future.
This article was written by Joe at Josh.ai where he focuses on Technical Support. He recently joined the team with a Control4 integrator background and has a passion for the smart home industry. He also enjoys martial arts, traveling, and dogs in his free time!
Josh.ai is an artificial intelligence agent for your home. If you’re interested in learning more, visit us at https://josh.ai.
