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yes, it has been for some time

No, it is alive and well

Not yet but it is heading that way

What is X10 Protocol ?

[Dan Lawrence]

Doing it by voice might be good, but what if two people in the same house gave orders at the same time?

[dave w]

Who wouldn't want a house thats entirely controlled by your voice, for instance?

I have voice recognition control through Homeseer, and although 100 times better than when I first played with VR control in 1987 with X10 and a Commodore 64     VR home control is still a long way from being ready for prime time IMHO.

[Tyler E]

Doing it by voice might be good, but what if two people in the same house gave orders at the same time?

Utter chaos.

[dhouston]

Doing it by voice might be good, but what if two people in the same house gave orders at the same time?

It's been several years since I looked at VR so things have likely improved but, back then, you needed to train the system to a specific voice and to commands that were repeated verbatim. The worst part was having to tatoo the command list on your forearm. 

[HA Dave]

That's pretty much the point I was trying to make. I do think that at some point soon HA will rise again, stronger than ever before due to advancements in technology. Who wouldn't want a house thats entirely controlled by your voice, for instance?

My house IS Voice Controlled! I've been controlling my home with BVC for about 5 years now. On the same old P2 Computer [that I installed XP on and added lots of RAM].

Besides being able to "command" on lights or cameras and such.... my Katie [computer voice] talks to me. I love the Voice announcements! The setup tells me when the garage door opens... or is left open. I get a warning if someone enters my yard..... a speaker even warns any tresspasser that the home is video monitored. I even use the X10 CM15A to create a Talking Clock.

But... you need a decent interface as well as plenty of hardware and software [and maybe an insane amount of free time] to accomplish this. But I do have a Star Trek or maybe Jetson's inspired setup.

I even still have an old video up on YouTube of my BVC setup. It has been viewed more than 18,000 times:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apZF77tsZlI

[Tyler E]

See, that is the kind of thing I want. Extremely cool! Remotes are so 90's.

Basically my life goal is to be able to say "Computer, do X" and it operates my house. I'm pretty sure everyone wants that...

[HA Dave]

See, that is the kind of thing I want. Extremely cool! Remotes are so 90's.
Basically my life goal is to be able to say "Computer, do X" and it operates my house. I'm pretty sure everyone wants that...

I had an idea once... that automation could have a logical computer interface. With enough sensors and macros a Home Automation Computer could recognize automation opportunities and suggest actions instead of just waiting for a command.

An example would be: If I arrived home to a silent house the computer could recognize my cellphones BlueTooth ID and ask if I would like the TV turned ON (my home computer/BVC setup has IR/remote control abilities). My TV turns on to a 24 Hour cable news show as I like to keep current. But.. the computer would see a listing has a favorite show of mine [Star Trek] was coming on... on a different channel. Then the computer would ask if I'd like the channel turned to Star Trek.

I even automated my chair once.... many others here at this forum and other forums have done MUCH MORE than I have. I just posted videos of some of my projects.

But we no longer even have the CM15A.... it breaks my heart.

[dave w]

But we no longer even have the CM15A.... it breaks my heart.

There are alternatives but they just cost a lot more....sigh.

[Noam]

My attic exhaust fan gets turned off for 5 minutes when my gas hot water heater turns on, to allow the flue to establish a draft.
I have an Arduino monitoring the temperatures (and a whole bunch of others, along with the status of the HVAC control lines coming form the thermostat), which then sends commands to my X10 system via the TW523 port on my XTB-IIR.

I've only played with the Arduino->X10 connection for a few weeks, but I see TONS of potential out there. There are a bunch of projects out on the web, but I haven't seen anyone put together a *real* automation controller built around one. yet.

[HA Dave]

I have looked at the other flavor of automation solutions... prices are higher... but doable if that is where I someday need to go. Meanwhile I am sorta hanging in limbo just waiting to see what happens. And how automation progresses in general.

I know my robot interests has been drawing me towards Arduino. I need to bite the bullet and commit more of my time, energy, and money to my hobby's.