Recognised
A recognised voice brings that person’s role with it, and keeps it for ten minutes.
Voice
Speak, and be answered.
A word to wake it, an answer within a second and a half, and the courtesy to stop when you speak over it.
I.
The wake word
“Hey steward, is the back door locked?”
The word is heard on the screen itself, not in the cloud. Wake it with “Hey steward”, with “Computer”, or with the name you gave it, trained for you on request. Or simply tap the bar.
II.
The voice bar
Speak or type. It answers in kind.
The bar sits at the foot of every wall. A spoken question is answered aloud; a typed one is answered in text, so a quiet house stays quiet.
Sources
Every answer names where it came from
Shown as text
Always, or only when you ask
Talking speed
Slower, normal, brisk or fast
Mute
Per screen; it answers on the screen instead
The answer panel
Closes itself 20 seconds after a spoken answer
III.
Who is speaking
It knows each voice, and what that voice may do.
Each member can enrol their voice in about thirty seconds. From then on, the steward answers a child as a child and an adult as an adult.
Not recognised
Once anyone has enrolled, an unknown voice is treated as a guest: it may ask, and it changes nothing.
A spoken PIN
If a voice is not sure, a PIN of four to eight digits settles it.
Recognition runs inside our own service. Voiceprints are kept in the vault and never sent to a model, and recognition stays off until each person enrols.
IV.
Alexa
Another ear in every room with an Echo.
“Alexa, ask Castald who is home.” Or open Castald for a conversation, and follow up for ten minutes.
Small things happen at once. Anything that sends, pays, unlocks or deletes becomes an approval on your phone or the wall, because Alexa is never trusted with more.
Through Alexa
A holding line
After a second and a half
A long answer
Kept for you: say “go on”
Every answer
Also a card in the Alexa app
Voices
Alexa voices matched to your members
Reaches
One home or business per link
V.
Around the house
One answer, from the right room.
Several screens
When two screens hear you, the one that heard you loudest answers and the others stay quiet.
Interrupt it
Speak over an answer and it stops at once, ready for what you meant to ask.
Carry on elsewhere
“Carry on on my phone” sends the conversation to your pocket, where you left off.
A steward for the whole estate.
Tell us a little about your house and your business. We will be in touch.