Chances are you’ve seen a ton of smart gadgets being launched in 2015. A lot of OEMs launch various smart gadgets, and even some smartphone OEMs do it, like Xiaomi for example. That China-based company has released a smart scale, smart air purifier, and a number of other such devices this year. Well, we’re here to talk about yet another rather interesting device, hiku’s Grocery Scanner. Yes, this is exactly what you think it is, but it’s perhaps far more capable than you might think at first, read on.
Now, this is not the first smart grocery scanner around, we’ve seen such devices before. hiku’s Grocery Scanner can speak or scan items you want to order, and are on your grocery list in an app which is connected to online inventory at Walmart or Peapod. As you can see, this is a rather simple device in terms of the design. It’s a round shaped piece of hardware with a button on it, which you need to speak in order for the device to start listening what you’re saying. You can, of course, connect your smartphone to this device and use it to scan groceries off of your fridge or something similar. The items you scan will be synced to hiku’s mobile app, which is available for either iOS or Android by the way.
Those of you who have used such a device before will probably compare this to Amazon Dash, for a good reason, the two devices are somewhat similar in terms of functionality. Interesting enough, the first iteration of hiku occurred before Amazon’s Dash. Hiku’s new device is actually a significant improvement over its predecessor, considering there were all sorts of smaller issues with the 1st-gen device. Hiku has, apparently, fixed such problems and is now ready for primetime.
”Hiku now includes a digital microphone with better audio isolation, as well as louder ‘beep’ feedback so consumers know their voice has been recognized,” said Rob Katcher, a co-founder of hiku. This is a very interesting device, and even though it might be completely unnecessary, some of us will gladly use it. The device is already available in the US and is priced at $49.
