STMicroelectronics and Sensory Inc. to partner on embedded speech-recognition technology

STMicroelectronics, a global semiconductor provider serving customers across the spectrum of electronics applications, and Sensory Inc., a provider of embedded speech-recognition technology and an ST Authorized Partner, are collaborating on a new project.

The partnership will enable the STM32 microcontroller (MCU) user community to develop and prototype intuitive voice-based user interfaces for a wide range of smart embedded products.

The joint efforts pair ST’s STM32 hardware and software with Sensory’s voice-control technologies — including the new VoiceHub online portal that supports seamless creation of embedded speech-recognition models using custom wake words, voice-control command sets, and large natural-language grammars in almost 20 languages and dialects.

“This collaboration sets to jump-start the development of embedded-voice user interfaces, adding friction-free command control and custom wake word to any device, from wearables to smart-home appliances,” said Ricardo De Sa Earp, executive VP, general-purpose microcontroller sub-group VP, STMicroelectronics. “The unique combination of ST and Sensory technologies will enable the STM32 user community to deploy ‘Voice AI on the edge’ without any programming, data-science, or machine-learning expertise, for free in prototypes and with favorable licensing terms in production.”

The solution is based on an STM32Cube software extension package and runs on a high-performance STM32H7 MCU, taking advantage of its architecture, internal Flash, SRAM, and high CPU speed. This combination plays a key role in increasing voice-control accuracy and minimizing command-recognition time. Hosting the voice application and speech models in the generous on-chip memory of the high-performance STM32 MCUs further boosts the system integration and ease of use, as well as lowers cost of ownership.

“Sensory designed our VoiceHub so developers could quickly and painlessly create custom speech-recognition models. However, after creating a custom model, integrating the model onto hardware, and moving to licensing terms were the next hurdles that needed to be cleared,” said Todd Mozer, CEO, Sensory. “This world-class collaboration with ST creates a complete software, hardware, and licensing package for embedded speech recognition across the STM32 family and makes adding Voice UIs, simple.”

ST’s new software package dedicated to voice-user interfaces is available at here.