Samsung Unveils Next-Gen Family Hub Brings With Artificial Intelligence

By Nigel F. Maynard

Samsung Family Hub Fridge Front with Screen Silver

Appliance manufacturer Samsung Electronics has updated its Family Hub smart refrigerator with intelligent new features that automate meal planning and other daily tasks to deliver a more personalized experience.

The artificial intelligence, the company says, streamlines meal planning, from the grocery store to an owner’s home.

“In the five years since we launched Family Hub, we have introduced innovations that reflect the new ways that busy, modern families are managing their daily lives,” says John Herrington, the company’s senior vice president and general manager of Home Appliances. “The latest Family Hub is the most innovative yet, with more personalized, intelligent features that enable busy families to stay better connected to one another."

In response to years of consumer insights with Family Hub, the company updated the unit the line with innovative features that they believe people want the most: AI-enhanced cameras inside the refrigerator and improved meal planning and recipe suggestions tailored to personal preferences. The new Family Hub also enables families to share more types of media and entertainment together, and brings a new level of control to the connected home.

The new fridge offers these new features:

Intelligent Meal Planning

Family Hub is more streamlined and more personalized than ever, meaning owner will spend less time preparing meals and more time enjoying them, the company says. It customizes the entire food experience—recommending Smart Recipes based on the dietary preferences homeowners set, helping them come up with a weeklong Meal Plan based on the refrigerator inventory, and preparing a shopping list with all the right ingredients.

“Family Hub’s ViewInside cameras have been upgraded with brand-new AI image recognition technology, which automatically scans the products inside your fridge, identifies them, and sends you updates on items your family has added or depleted,” the company explains. “Family Hub’s Meal Planner is also smarter, with the Quick Plan feature now offering a week’s worth of recommended recipes with just one click."

Another new feature for meal planning is brought to Family Hub through innovative technology from Whisk, a food AI startup recently acquired by Samsung NEXT. Whisk can help you plan an entire meal—or even a week’s worth of meals—by adjusting recipes based on the number of guests you expect and building a smart shopping list that consolidates ingredients from several recipes.

[ Read More: 9 INNOVATIVE DISHWASHERS WE SAW IN 2019 ]

Updated Family Board

Last year, the company launched the Family Board, a virtual bulletin board that’s designed to enhance life’s special moments so families can share favorite songs and images. Now, for the first time, the Family Board supports video clips, so users can transfer videos from their smartphone to the refrigerator.

“To make sharing easier, Family Hub has also updated the SmartView feature, which mirrors content from connected Samsung TVs and Samsung mobile devices,” the brand says. “With portrait mode, you can enjoy vertical smartphone videos, as well as your favorite social media content on the full screen of Family Hub.”

Connect and Control Your Smart Home

The new Family Hub takes managing your smart home to the next level. Users can monitor and control more than 1,000 SmartThings-compatible products throughout your home: turn lights on or off, see who’s at the front door, set the temperature, lock the front door, etc. And with the addition of the new SmartThings Video widget, you can now view multiple security cameras at-a-glance, to keep an eye on the entire home from the kitchen.