Elan Launches New Intelligent Touch Panels
Earlier this year, Nortek hosted live demonstrations of two new Elan Intelligent Touch Panels at ISE 2019. No, these aren’t just regular touch panels, Elan has incorporated these bad boys with face recognition and voice control over your home systems like lighting, audio, climate, security, and more. This gives Elan a bit of an edge against home speaker systems like GoogleHome and Alexa, except your Elan system seems untouchable; it can control everything!
“With the control enhanced by face recognition and voice, these new interfaces go beyond what we’d normally call a ‘touch panel’. They are fully interactive control panels that redefine what smart home control can be. Our goal is to make the Elan smart home more than just smart, and more than just connected. With these new intelligent and interactive panels, we’re making the smart home experience intuitive as well”- explained Elan Product Manager, Jeff Shaw.
So far, we’ve only seen a glimpse of facial recognition with the latest models of Apple’s iPhones. As an iPhone X owner, the facial recognition is by far my favorite part of my smartphone. Not only is it convenient and easily accessible, but it also offers a sense of safety and security across my mobile apps and platforms. For example, before completing the download of an application, my phone will finalize permission with my FaceID. My mobile banking app easily opens will the presence of FaceID, along with quick short payments with ApplePay. No more having to frantically shuffle through my wallet for the right card. Facial recognition is the new era of touch screens.
These 8 and 12-inch high resolution touch screen panels automatically identify the homeowner within seconds. You can register multiple users on the interface to recognize effortlessly upon arrival. The setup is easy and simple; you’ll go through a short series of commands followed by the user standing in front of the built-in camera until the face is registered. Based on each face, a series of commands will trigger their preferences on a plethora of systems such as lighting, temperature, and music. As if it couldn’t get any better, the panels have a dual-digital MEMS microphone array with Alexa and Google Assistant capability. These panels also have intercom functionality, allowing them to link to any device, whether smartphone or tablet, that has the downloadable app. Integrating the panels into your home are a breeze; each panel mounts using a standard two-gang box, eliminating the need for a custom bracket.
