Josh.ai continues rapidly innovating and increasing the power of artificial intelligence in the home. Following the company’s Winter Launch Event, where Josh.ai introduced 19 new natural AI voices, its AVA Cinema Remote experience, app enhancements, Josh Touchscreen, and Nimble DevSuite, the company hosted a special webinar for its dealer network with one more announcement to share.
Required Reading: Josh.ai Reveals New App and Remote Features, and Touchscreen
Josh.ai presented Josh Edge as a way to provide simple and intuitive handheld control in the home. Based on years of partner input, dealers were empowered to provide feedback and back the project if they wanted Josh.ai to build it. In the first hour, Josh.ai reached their crowdfunding goal to move forward and build Josh Edge. This cooperative approach to roadmap prioritization, as well as the demand shown by their dealers, illustrates Josh.ai’s commitment to listening to its partners and developing meaningful solutions for the professional channel.
Machined out of aluminum for durability, Josh Edge combines elegant and ergonomic design into a complementary hard button companion. The remote has an expected battery life of three months on a single charge, achieves a price point that dealers are excited about, and includes key features with its button mapping and side volume control.
Central to the product is a tap-to-talk near-field voice control button. Josh Edge is location and contextually aware, so commands like “open the shades” or “watch ESPN” are a simple to achieve. In addition, JoshGPT provides immediate answers to any question a client might ask. Below the voice button, the bottom half of Josh Edge is dedicated to media control with a multi-directional navigation pad and AV buttons for a universal remote control experience with Apple TV, Roku, Kaleidescape, Dish, Xfinity, and more.
At the top of Josh Edge is a set of six custom buttons that are entirely swappable based on a client’s needs for any particular area. The upper buttons offer the ability to control specific devices in the room like lights, shades, fans, and music. The buttons can also be used to activate custom scenes like, Movie Time and Room Off, or can be configured to execute more video commands. For example, a user may want to toggle TV subtitles or provide shortcuts to favorite channels and services like Netflix.
The ability to customize Josh Edge is important as it enables dealers to configure the product for a particular room, while providing simple buttons to control whatever is most important for their client. The buttons are designed to be backlit, which was another feature built with dealer feedback in mind.
“After our Winter Launch Event, we were thrilled to be able to propose the Josh Edge vision with our dealers to foster a collaborative approach to roadmap development. Our goal at Josh.ai is to create products and experiences that are simple, private, and delightful to use,” said Alex Capecelatro, CEO of Josh.ai. “The Josh.ai team is committed to working closely with our dealers and this initiative has been an incredible testament to our industry. I want to personally thank our community for the overwhelming support and feedback on this proposal, and we cannot wait to deliver Josh Edge to our customers.”
Josh.ai dealers interested in backing this project and being the first to receive Josh Edge when it ships can do so until March 15. During this time, the Josh Store is offering promotional pricing on single pre-orders, as well as bundles with three, five, and 10 units. Josh.ai will kick off development shortly with a goal of showcasing Josh Edge at CEDIA Expo and shipping to customers by the end of 2024.
