We doubt that Jean Luc Picard ever had to ask the computer to turn up the heating on the Enterprise, but Honeywell is about to make that a possibility for any would be captain at home with a new thermostat that you can control with your voice.
The voice controlled thermostat, out in the next couple of weeks in the UK, will allow you to simply say "hello, thermostat" before barking further orders like "make it warmer" or "make it much cooler".
The new showstopper device from the company works by learning the owners voice and reacting accordingly by listening to key commands from anywhere in the room, in the same way Android users already do with "OK, Google".
Those commands range from standard temperature controls to asking the Honeywell thermostat for the weather, all of which will be read out back to you.
Behind the scenes, the thermostat links to the company's Honeywell Total Connect Comfort app. And because the platform learns via crowd sourcing, it should get smarter over time with the addition of more commands based on its interactions with homeowners.
"We want to explore new ways for people to interact with their home and this is a natural progression," said Jeremy Peterson, GM of Honeywell’s EMEA Home Comfort & Energy Systems Division.
In reality, it's probably about a number of things, both offering tech savvy users already used to talking to their phone the chance to talk to their heating as well. It also shows that Honeywell is able do more than just making a thermostat that is controlled via an app.
The thermostat was demoed to Pocket-lint ahead of the launch, and on the surface looks like other devices from the company's large range of controllers.
Like the personal assistants on our phones, or an Xbox One with Kinect, the thermostat has a list of prescribed commands and making sure you say those commands in the right order will be important. We got it wrong and the thermostat did nothing.
Where the real challenge will be, and one that we are keen to try out, is how well the thermostat will work in a home environment across a noisy room where you might also have a TV on. With a smartphone you are talking directly to the microphone in front of you, here you will have to talk to a microphone possibly on the other side of the room and that will be the real challenge for Honeywell. Get it right and it is likely that eventually in the future we will all be talking to our electronics in our home, get it wrong however and it will leave customers frustrated pulling their hair out, effing and blinding at their heating system ignoring them.
The Honeywell Voice Controlled Thermostat is priced from £229 and is available to order within the UK via the Honeywell Installer Network.