First among domestic construction companies, the service works through a single smartphone app

An image of Lotte Engineering & Construction's AI voice-recognition home network control service. [Lotte Engineering & Construction]
An image of Lotte Engineering & Construction's AI voice-recognition home network control service. [Lotte Engineering & Construction]

Lotte Engineering & Construction announced Wednesday that it will introduce an AI voice-recognition home network control service, becoming the first domestic construction company to do so.

Developed jointly with Lotte Innovate, the service recognizes voice commands directly within a smart home application without requiring additional hardware, allowing residents to control devices inside their units. It will be integrated into the existing "Lotte Smart Home 2.0" system and applied sequentially to Lotte Castle and Le El complexes as they are completed.

Residents can use voice control through the existing "Lotte Smart Home" app on their smartphones without purchasing an AI speaker or any other extra device. Opening the app and saying commands such as "Turn on the living room lights" or "Set the air conditioner to 25 degrees" prompts the AI to independently analyze the space, device and command, then immediately activate the corresponding home network device. Control results are also displayed at a glance on the app screen.

Existing smart home services have required users to navigate through multiple in-app menus to execute a desired function. Lotte Engineering & Construction introduced voice recognition so that anyone — including older residents less comfortable with digital devices — can use smart home features with ease.

The service was built on Aimember, Lotte Group's proprietary AI platform, making it a flagship example of the group's AI technology applied to real residential environments.

Lotte Engineering & Construction will initially offer voice control for lighting and air conditioning, the most frequently used functions, before expanding to cover parking spot lookup, community facility reservations within the complex, and energy management, among other residential lifestyle services.

"We will continue to expand AI residential products that customers can enjoy more conveniently," a company official said. "We will develop this into a smart living platform that organically connects diverse lifestyle services and residential data."

The company has been accelerating AI adoption across its construction sites and residential products, having earlier teamed up with Lotte Innovate to develop an AI multilingual translation model tailored for the construction industry.

Meanwhile, Lotte Engineering & Construction recently issued 200 billion won ($147 million) in third-round asset-backed securities at the top AAA credit rating through a proprietary construction payment receivables securitization product it developed in-house.


hwshin@heraldcorp.com