“Hey Google” Smart Home Summit — All That You Need to Know

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Chatbots Life

4 min readJul 31, 2020

“Hey Google” Smart Home Virtual Summit took place recently, with the revelation of tons of new features. Google is bent on bring about more smart home automation globally, and it envisions Google Assistant as the heart of it all.

The new features showcased at the “Hey Google” Smart Home Virtual Summit marked the official reveal of all the new features of Google’s smart home ecosystem, Google Assistant, and Nest brand.

What are the updates and when will they roll out?

However, the smart home updates as unveiled in “Hey Google” Smart Home Virtual Summit shall rise into prominence for the masses in late 2020, when Android 11 releases.

Android 11 is supposed to have a separate section dedicated to facilitating smart home operations. They mostly include operations such as choosing whichever device controls users want in the menu or accessing Google Assistant integrated devices.

The custom routines will run on not only the manufacturer’s devices but the developer will also provide their valuable suggestion about other devices the routines can work with.

What is Presence Tech?

Also, there are rumors that Google Assistant will have the capability to run various routines in the future, based on whether people are home or not. However, this was a pre-existing feature is Nest which will now be an element in Google Assistant as well.

Google Assistant will depend on “presence tech” to decide whether it should run the set routines when people are away. The makers of the routines will soon play an integral role in creating and suggesting the same to users.

Google’s shot at throwing spotlight on the developers.

“Hey Google” Smart Home Summit also gave away the information that there are many more devices that Google Assistant will assess control upon, and henceforth they will also run routines. Google announced that it will open up the Smart Home Entertainment Device API to any developer.

Basically, if a developer wants to integrate the smart voice assistant into a video game console, smart TV, or set-top box, he shall get to do so. SHED introduced itself last year but was restricted to certain brands that Google partnered with such as Roku and LG.

“Hey Google” Smart Home Summit acknowledges that by extending the offer to any developer to integrate the voice assistant into their devices, the number of gadgets that Google Assistant can now control has become humongous.

Google’s statement

Michele Turner, Google Nest director of product and smart home ecosystem released a statement saying that they have focused on foundational features, that are paramount to make it easier for people to manage their devices.

He stressed the fact that during these tough times as many of us are trapped behind closed doors, smart devices’ usage is skyrocketing. Henceforth, they wished to create a wonderful smart-centric experience.

It’s only natural for them to increase their support in entertainment devices, which are said to yield a ceaseless growth this pandemic.

Final word

The new features are going to be more developer-oriented than consumers. The giant updates and features supposed to come do match the ones mentioned in the leaked document.

Yes, Google recently leaked a document about the google assistant supported new doorbells and laundry appliances. Google also revamped its Voice Match feature, adding it to compatible devices.

It has also introduced pilot programs enabling users to shop with the help of Voice Match.

We mean, a wide array of features and increasing adoption of smart home automation — all of this is definitely going to be a boon for the people!