Yandex announced a smart speaker with background voice detection – Kommersant

Yandex presented the Station Midi smart speaker – its dimensions are smaller than those of Station 2, but larger than the compact models Mini and Light. The new speaker, according to the company, can detect when voices are heard in the same room as it. This function can be used when creating smart home automation scenarios. As an example of such a scenario, Yandex cited the ability to turn on a kettle and music in the morning when someone starts talking.

The speaker is equipped with two high-frequency and one low-frequency speakers with a total power of 24 W, a screen with a clock and circular LED backlight. The device, like Station 2 and the updated Station Max, is equipped with a Zigbee module for communication with other smart home components. At the same time, “Midi Station” can recognize voice directly on the device itself and control Zigbee components without the Internet. Yandex clarified to Kommersant that offline management of Zigbee devices is “a hardware feature of the Midi Station.”

“Station Midi” will be available in three colors: at the start of sales in Russia on November 16 – in black and emerald, and later – in gray. Yandex has not yet disclosed the price of the device; a company representative clarified that it will be published directly on the day sales begin. The YaC 2023 conference on Yandex products and technologies is scheduled for the same date.

Yuri Litvinenko