Matter Faces a Delay
Matter, the new smart home interoperability standard being developed by a consortium of the technology industry’s largest companies, announced a delay in the launch of the standard to Fall 2022. According to the CSA (Connectivity Standards Alliance) the delay is needed to finalize the SDK (software development kit) due to a larger than expected number of platforms adopting Matter. Reportedly, the code needs more work to ensure everything will operate together smoothly- this is essentially the overall promise of Matter. This is not the first delay for Matter which originally announced a release date of late 2020.
The NPD Take:
- While a delay in the launch of Matter is inconvenient, news that demand for participation in the standard is higher than expected is encouraging. Though home automation retail sales were quite strong in 2021, the addition of Matter is expected to help grow industry sales, providing users assurances that a wider range of brands will be interoperable with devices they already own in the home.
Xiaomi Made a Security Robot
While Xiaomi first introduced its Boston Dynamics-styled robot dog in August 2021, it recently made an appearance at Mobile World Congress 2022. The CyberDog is powered by an “AI-optimized supercomputer” consisting of a Jetson Xavier NX platform from Nvidia which provides its intelligence and Xiaomi claims the robot can interact voice commands. Developers can customize the robot as it features USB Type -C ports, HDMI, and can add screens, lights, cameras, LiDAR and more customizations. Reportedly the CyberDog’s movements feel remotely like a real dog but remain very mechanical and robotic.
The NPD Take:
- As consumers continue to invest in security and monitoring devices for their homes, the market for security robots will invevitably grow. Ownership of robotic vacuums remains relatively low, however as more companies explore the space, cost efficiencies will help make the devices more affordable and new use cases will drive interest among new users.
- Though the security dog robot form factor was made famous by Boston Dynamics, look for robots with new specializations to emerge (such as servant robots or personal companion robots) in addition to security.