Social network for robots will help usher in the golden age of home automation
by Norrin on December 29, 2011
When I read the news earlier this week, I couldn’t help but be reminded that we are on the threshold of turning science fiction into everyday reality.
The news I’m referring to is the launch of MyRobots, a social network for robots and other electrical devices. Though still in its infancy stage – and by no means guaranteed to gain traction or mainstream adoption – this site represents a major shift in technology. And that shift will be responsible for completely transforming what is commonly referred to as home automation.
Why?
- Because as the article mentions, being in direct communication with appliances like your vacuum cleaner will make household chores much easier, more efficient, and more or less completely automated and “hands free.”
- Because in time, these machines will bypass their human owners and will begin communicating with one another (in the most basic sense of the word, not in a “iRobot” movie sense) and learning from one another (again in the most basic sense of the word) to make management of household activities like laundry, vacuuming, turning on home security systems completely automated (many refer to this concept as “the internet of things“)
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We might ditch touch, gesture, and voice control sooner than later
by Norrin on December 21, 2011
It seems like only yesterday that the mainstream public was introduced to touchscreen devices like the iPhone and iPad, gesture-controlled devices like the xBox Kinect and voice control apps like Siri.
Yet amazingly, if IBM is right, we may soon ditch all of those interfaces in favor of mind control.
To be more specific, IBM and others believe that we are quickly entering the era of brain-controlled technology and communication. And they may very well be right. After all, researches have been working on direct-to-brain interfaces for over a decade, using them to communicate with animals as well as paraplegics. Moreover, commercial apps like the xWave provide consumers like me and you an opportunity to play brain-controlled video games on the iPad. Granted, I know from personal usage that these games are fairly elementary, but I also know just how cool it can be to put out a fire by simply thinking about it (yes, that’s one of the games xWave offers).
From a home automation perspective, these developments are nothing short of mind blowing. They basically lay the foundation for things like playing the piano in your living room with your mind as opposed to your voice. The same goes for all of the home applications we’ve discussed in past, such as controlling your music console or changing the temperature on your thermostat.
If IBM is right, the era of voice, gesture, and touch control could be short lived; quickly giving way to the era of what I like to call pseudo telepathy.
If that’s not the stuff of science fiction fantasy come to life, I don’t know what is.
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Gesture recognition coming to more and more mainstream appliances
December 14, 2011I came across an article this week that mentioned how JVC is rolling out a car stereo system that could be controlled via hand gestures. Pretty cool, huh. Now granted, this is a blog about home automation, not car automation, but I think it’s fair to assume that this type of gesture control can very [...]
Home automation means getting rid of the “remote” culture
December 5, 2011There I was, browsing through some of the latest and greatest airplay-enabled speakers on the market, when I happened upon something that caught my eye, and not for a good reason. Note: Here’s a primer on airplay speakers, if you’re not familiar with the term. Anyhow, back to the story. So there I was, looking [...]
Home automation and the “internet of things”
November 28, 2011Up until now, when you think of the internet, you think of your own interaction with websites, applications, etc. in a way that helps you connect with other humans (e.g. viewing other people’s websites or communicating with people via email, social network, discussion forum, blog comments, user reviews, etc.). What’s still a bit under the [...]
Human voice inflection might be the key to home automation adoption
November 21, 2011I recently overheard a buddy of mine comment on how annoyingly inhuman computer voice simulations are. He was referencing the voices made by the video production software application over at xtranormal.com, but I got to thinking about other computer voice simulations such as the one produced by Apple’s iPhone virtual assistant, Siri. I personally think [...]
Google rumored to be way out in front within the home automation space
November 15, 2011This past weekend, the New York Times published a fascinating article on an alleged underground Google department codenamed “Google X”. Among other things, Google is rumored to be experimenting with both personal robotics and internet-enabled home appliances. Here’s an excerpt that I found particularly enticing: Other ideas involve what Google referred to as the “Web [...]
Get a “Z-wave” enabled thermostat & control your AC away from home
November 10, 2011Ever wish that you could cool down or warm up your home before you even got there? I sure have, particularly on days were it’s perhaps a bit warmer (or cooler) than forecast, or after a really hard workout in the sun, or when I forgot to turn on the unit before I left home. [...]
How long before we see an Apple “iBot”?
November 7, 2011Last week, I was thinking about the exponential rate of home automation we’ve been experiencing in recent years, and a couple realizations hit me all at once: Apple’s Siri voice command for the iPhone 4s is a serious leap forward in terms of voice-driven technology interfaces Products like the the Iris 9000 will pave the [...]
Automate the opening of doors in your home with Siri
November 2, 2011Never mind the fact that Apple hasn’t released an official API for their Siri voice assistant app. Enterprising programmers are already creating all sorts of creative applications take voice controlled home automation to a new level. For example, these sharp folks decided to create a module that opens doors based on voice commands alone: Granted, [...]
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