Tag: Intercom

TreeTalk at Maker Faire Roma 2018 – European Edition

TreeTalk has demonstrated the working prototypes of devices, software and cloud system at Maker Faire Roma 2018 – European Edition.

TreeTalk became the finalist of the Call4Makers competition in the Innovative Projects category and presented its promising products at the Regione Lazio stand. It is a great honor for us to represent this Italian region at such a major international event.

Maker Faire is the Greatest Show on Earth in the field of invention and creativity. And Maker Faire Rome is the world’s largest Maker Faire exhibition after the “Bay Area” and “New York” in the US. Over 100,000 people participated at the biggest European innovation event in 2018.

It was an amazing 3-day event, transmitting its energy to visitors and participants. Existing companies and promising projects in various fields, such as electronics and prototyping, robotics, space, 3D printing, virtual and augmented reality were presented at dozens of thematic sites of the Nuova Fiera di Roma exhibition center.

Universities, as well as business incubators and Active Spaces (Spazio Attivo) – innovative creative platforms of Lazio Innova, represented their projects. A special place was occupied by master classes and Science Show for young people and children. And, of course, in a country where the art has long become an integral part of everyday life, particular attention was attracted by the places where art and modern high technologies together created new interesting forms.

The attention of visitors was attracted by the tireless iron (literally) rock musicians of the One Love Machine Band, playing in the open air. Amazing products, decorations, clothes and art objects from traditional materials (wood, metal, ceramics, and fabrics), but created using digital technologies, were presented.

In addition to the entertainment program, the attention of specialists was attracted by high-tech solutions in the field of Industry and Business 4.0, revolutionary solutions for the retail, agriculture, food industry, and waste processing.

It is worth saying a little about the site where the exhibition was held.
Fiera Roma was opened in April 2006 and is one of the largest and most prestigious exhibition poles in Europe. This is a great architectural work, designed by the architect Tommaso Valle, and this is an excellent futuristic business center. The center is powered by the largest thin-film solar system in Italy, covering about 38,000 square meters of the pavilion roofs. The system generates 1.8 million kWh of clean energy per year.

In addition, Fiera Roma is a center for international trade and communications. Rome is not only a world-famous tourist destination but also a very important business center, strategically located in the midst of economic flows between north and south Italy and Europe. It is a bridge between old and new markets, equipped with modern and functional structures. The exhibition center is part of a multifunctional retail and office district with an area of more than 390,000 square meters.

Fiera di Roma is situated in a strategic location and is served by an excellent transport network. In addition to roads with convenient parking and interchanges, the complex has its own suburban railway platform (2 stops from the Fiumicino international airport or several stops from the center of Rome). At the time of the Maker Faire exhibition, the Italian railways not only increased the number of trains but also organized an information point on the platform with multilingual staff helping visitors to buy tickets and understand the routes.

TreeTalk presented its promising developments at the exhibition. Those are the real-time voice communication devices: the prototype of the car voice communicator “The Terminal One” and the prototype of the stationary communicator “TreeTalk Intercom“. Also were demonstrated: a prototype of a user web interface for managing devices and their groups (TreeTalk Web Panel) and a prototype program for the PC TreeTalk Dispatcher, which combines the functionality of personnel task management and instant communication with a specific employee (selective call) or with the whole team (group call).

We are grateful to the jury of the Call4Makers contest for the high appreciation of our developments and the opportunity provided. Thanks to participation in the exhibition, we were able to acquaint many people with our developments and get extremely useful feedback that will allow us to improve our prospective products.

TreeTalk Intercom Prototype ver. 0.1

TTbox2
Intercom on the conveyor line

For the startup TreeTalk, the summer of 2018 turned out to be really hot, but productive. We moved to Rome, got acquainted with the local innovation ecosystem (the story is still to come), tested the new version of The Terminal One in extreme hot climate conditions. And now this is it – first working version (according to the internal numbering of TreeTalk – ver. 0.1) of a completely new device, code-named Intercom, appeared!

Intercom4

This is the natural development of the overall concept. Since we already have a ready-to-use infrastructure for voice and device management (TreeTalk platform), why not add devices to the product line that are not quite mobile (but more about that later), but also work with voice information and require grouping together with possible topology of the “star” type, with the dispatcher’s computer in the center.

Intercom_color_mini

And here is the very first workable prototype of the product of this series. Externally, it really looks like a door phone or an intercom, and it’s as simple from the outside – the user just press and hold one TT button (TreeTalk or ToTalk, whatever you want) to contact his team or dispatcher. So far, everything seems familiar. But then – the differences begin:

  • TreeTalk Intercom does not require the laying of cable communication lines – it works with existing Wi-Fi, LTE, 3G, 2G, any data transmission networks (depending on the modification chosen). However, on twisted pair it can work too.

    Intercom_Control_Desk
    Old-style Intercom Control Desk – photo by H.stadler
  • TreeTalk Intercom does not require hardware control desk, switches or commutators – it runs on a cloud-based TreeTalk platform, and it’s enough for the user (figuratively speaking) to make a few clicks of the mouse in a convenient and intuitive user web interface to create a group of devices, to make the necessary settings, and to link it to the dispatcher’s program.

  • TreeTalk Intercom is a digital device and the quality of the transmitted speech is also digital.

  • TreeTalk Intercom has useful features – an indication of the incoming message and its  replay (if necessary) or a response on the reverse channel, depending on how the second button is configured.

Where is needed all that? Briefly – everywhere, where constant connection

and voice communication in real time is required – in warehouses, in shops, in offices, workshops and garages, in manufacturing and on the conveyor, on

Bolinders_teleradio
Aged Bolinders Teleradio

technological machines and transport, in elevators and basements. And on the doors and gates with access control system, too 🙂 Slightly modified communication modules can be built into ATM, parking meter, self-service kiosk, and so on.

Loudaphone_on_Queen_Mary
Loudaphone on Queen Mary – photo by Binksternet

For example, if an ATM swallows a card, or the vending machine is acting up, nowadays you have to find a hotline phone number, to call, to wade through annoying ads and “press 1 for this, press 2 for that”, then explain the problem to the service employee a long while. Instead, simply press a button and talk – TreeTalk connects instantly, and the operator is already known exactly where you are, and probably what happened.

Let’s look into the nearest future. You definitely will see Big Button with Purple TT Sign on the dashboard of self-driving cab, taking you home. Because even if algorithms, controlling the autonomous vehicle, look ideal, always there is a room for surprise in the real life. So the people inside and, maybe, outside the vehicle must have the opportunity of instant voice connection to the dispatcher / control tower / support.

Afterward, imagine a goofy delivery robot obtruding the wrong sort of pizza, which you have not ordered — you just may to push a similar button on it and instantly tell the operator what do you think about Artificial Intelligence.

They say “Hardware is hard”. But anyone who developed hardware from the outline (“from 0 to 1”), will confirm that it’s hard to compare to something th

TreeTalk Intercom 3D model
TreeTalk Intercom 3D model

e feeling, when an idea generates a sketch, then 3D model appears, and now there is something to hold in your hands, and here it WORKS! There will be many tests, iterations, modifications ahead, before the device will be ready for production. But the working capacity of the concept is proofed, the further is just a matter of technology and grind work.

TreeTalk Intercom
TreeTalk Intercom