NXP Brings Customizability to Local Voice Control at the Edge

OEMs can affordably generate their own set of more than 100 voice commands and wake words in over 40 languages.

NXP’s EdgeReady solution portfolio now includes a turnkey hardware and software solution that enables developers to add versatile local voice control with customizable commands to the industrial and IoT edge. The voice control solution includes a speech modeling tool based on phoneme technology that enables developers to generate more than 100 custom commands and multiple wake words. The solution supports more than 40 different languages and dialects and enables voice-capable devices to handle up to four languages simultaneously.

The NXP EdgeReady solution can significantly lower cost and development time to add local voice control to devices across the home and workplace, from smart home devices and appliances, to vending machines and elevators. Until now, the cost and effort required to collect crowd-sourced audio speech data has made local voice control prohibitive for developers with limited budgets. With the NXP EdgeReady solution, developers can use a PC-based tool to create custom speech models at no additional cost.

Based on i.MX RT crossover microcontrollers (MCUs), the NXP EdgeReady solution includes a BOM cost-optimized hardware reference design and pre-integrated, production-ready software designed for effortless evaluation, fast time to market and minimal development risk. Running entirely at the network edge, local voice control eliminates the privacy, security and latency concerns associated with cloud-based voice assistants.

Pricing and Availability

The i.MX RT106S MCU for multi-language designs is available now with a suggested resale price starting at $4.22 USD in 10k quantities from NXP authorized distributors. For single-language designs, the voice control solution is available on the pin-compatible i.MX RT105S MCU for a suggested resale price starting at $3.70 USD in 10k quantities. The SLN-LOCAL2-IOT development kit is also available now for a suggested retail prices starting at $149 USD. Visit www.nxp.com/mcu-local2 to learn more about the NXP EdgeReady local voice control solution and the SLN-LOCAL2-IOT development kit, and access the software and design files supporting the platform.