LIXIL renews smart home service "Life Assist", no monthly fee required: Manufacturing industry becomes service industry (1/2 page)

LIXIL's "Life Assist 2" service image (click to enlarge) Source: LIXIL

LIXIL held a meeting in Tokyo on June 9, 2021 and announced the IoT (Internet of Things) Home Link "Life Assist 2" that realizes smart homes by linking with housing equipment, building materials and home appliances. It is a second-generation model developed based on user evaluations of "Life Assist" released in April 2018, and lowers the hurdles for introduction, such as being able to use it without a monthly fee if you purchase a home device that is the core hardware. At the same time, the usability of the smartphone application has been greatly improved. Scheduled to be released on July 1, 2021, the reference price (tax included) for the Life Assist 2 home device is 55,000 yen. It is expected to sell about 10,000 units in three years after its release.

LIXILがスマートホームサービス「Life Assist」を刷新、月額使用料が不要に:製造業がサービス業となる日(1/2 ページ)

Life Assist 2 is a smart home service that can control housing equipment, building materials, and home appliances that support Wi-Fi and ECHONET Lite by simply connecting a dedicated home device to a Wi-Fi router in the home. Keita Kurabayashi, General Manager, Device Product Development Department, Device Division, LIXIL HOUSING TECHNOLOGY JAPAN, said, "We have renewed the first model, Life Assist, with the concept of" making smart homes closer to you. "Monthly usage fees are not required. All you have to do is connect to the router and then pair it. The smartphone app has also been completely improved so that it can be used more intuitively. "

LIXIL is a smart home at the "COMMA House," which was a joint experiment with the Institute of Industrial Science, the University of Tokyo from 2011 to 2016, and the research facility "U 2 -Home," which has been in operation since 2013. Has pursued the potential of IoT in Tokyo. As a result, Life Assist was released in April 2018 based on the "Home IoT Link System" that was announced in the press release in April 2017.

LIXIL has conducted various demonstration experiments in pursuit of the possibilities of IoT in smart homes (left). In April 2018, "Life Assist" was released as a smart home service (right). The press conference was held in "U2-Home" located next to LIXIL's head office (Koto-ku, Tokyo). (Click to enlarge) Source: LIXIL

Life Assist, which has sold about 5,000 items so far, has received various evaluations from the final end user and professional users such as contractors who propose housing to end users. "While we were able to get a lot of high praise, the monthly usage fee of 1980 yen from the end user is high, the voice that the application is difficult to use, and the opinion of the professional user that it is difficult to propose to the end user if there is a monthly charge. Has emerged as an issue. Life Assist 2 has solved these problems and upgraded it to make it easier to use, "says Mr. Kurabayashi.

Evaluation of end users and professional users for "Life Assist" (left) and challenges in introducing smart homes (right) (click to enlarge) Source: LIXIL

In addition, as an environment different from when Life Assist was released, there is also a change in lifestyle due to the Korona-ka. Potential needs for smart homes are becoming apparent due to self-restraint from going out, measures against infectious diseases, and increased time spent at home. As LIXIL, we would like to capture this actualized need and promote the development of the smart home market with Life Assist 2, which makes smart homes closer to us.

Lifestyle changes caused by Korona-ka have revealed potential needs for smart homes (click to enlarge) Source: LIXIL "Life Assist 2" features three "smart" features 1 | 2 Go to next page