LXE has substantial experience with wearable and voice activated, enabled and/or controlled computers. The company's HX2 is a small arm- or waist-wearable that's voice enabled, but it still has a display. The new HX3, introduced in September of 2007, does away with the display altogether. It is a completely hands-free voice-operated computer for use with voice-directed logistics applicatons, even if they take places in freezers with temperatures down to -40 degrees Fahrenheit.
The handy HX3 measures just 4 x 3.5 x 1.4 inches and weighs less than ten ounces. It's powered by a 400 MHz Marvel PXA255 processor and runs Windows CE 5.0 Professional Plus. The battery is mounted next to the HX3 and you have your pick from a standard 12-hour pack or an extended 24-hour pack.
The HX3 not only does without a display, it also does not have a keyboard. Instead, there are just four large buttons: blue, white, green and a large yellow one. That's it. The entire operation is via voice interaction between the HX3 and the user. You may see a forklift operator go about his or her work, issuing commands, getting voice feedback from the HX3, and keeping track of everything without ever touching the computer.
The HX3 captures data not only via voice, but also via either a SD laser ring scanner that scans short distance (up to 4 feet) or a 2D imager ring scanner that covers distances up to over 20 feet.
For data communication, the HX3 has Bluetooth 2.0 EDR to interact with printers and other Bluetooth peripherals, and 802.1b/g for high-speed WiFi connections.
In March of 2010, LXE announced the availability of Genesta's SyVox Client on the HX3 voice-directed wearable computer. SyVox Client, already available on LXE's HX2 wearable and MX7 handheld computer, is a speech-enabled data collection application designed for industrial applications.
