House Electronic Ltd
‘Smart’ and ‘intelligent’ are terms frequently applied to electronic systems these days, though it is worth noting that they are rarely accurate. In fairness, these terms are useful when used to distinguish non-automated homes from those employing technology to make life more convenient, secure and luxurious. These buildings are indeed advanced compared to traditional homes, but are neither smart nor intelligent.
Fully automated homes typically have a central unit that controls electrically powered devices such as mains sockets, lighting circuits and appliances. The unit, as we know it now, is actually quite ‘stupid’, following very simply constructed rules and responding to relatively basic input signals. These systems are often complex in their overall construction, leading to sometimes amazing sequences of events and apparent behaviours. They are a giant leap forward for the domestic market.
We will see the infrastructures of today evolve into much smarter home and lifestyle management systems. With the introduction of artificial intelligence techniques, which have been developing for more than 30 years, it will become possible to add a level of input processing and fault tolerance that is simply impossible using a rule-based system as described above.
Imagine a system that mimics your behaviour when you’re away from home, switching lights on and off and so on. Quite possible now, only up to a point. Consider a system that takes into consideration outside temperature, combined with external light levels, time of day and season. Add to this the amount of detected movement in and around the home, a comparison between the amount of ambient noise inside and outside and even the amount of sunlight bearing down on the roof. All of these contribute to the decision the system makes about what to do under those conditions. Now, factor in the ability to be flexible in its decision making, instead of replaying a series of recorded settings from different days in the week, and we’re beginning to get a picture of a smart home. From a security point of view, carefully engineered systems could take input from a great many sources to make an informed decision on what to do when events occur, avoiding false alarms and responding quickly to genuine problems.
Voice recognition is reaching a stage of maturity that will soon make it possible to speak commands to your home and ask it questions about various subsystems and appliances. Combine a core system that can make simple decisions with a voice interface, and we’re reaching a degree of interactivity that will have us thinking we’re never home alone again. Pattern recognition, particularly using facial features, is also becoming quite possible at a price that may soon be attractive to typical homeowners. Combining this with thumbprint and retina scanning, voice print analysis and movement capture processing would create a system able to recognise you by looking at your face, the sound of your voice and the way you walk. Systems such as those imagined in Red Dwarf or 2001 are not too far away. The look on your guests’ faces when you ask if anyone would like coffee and a voice comes from nowhere and says “Don’t worry, I’ll get it. You just chat to your friends. I’ll call you when it’s ready.” That voice could easily come from an intelligent artificial organism that has an artificial nervous system at its core.
Equally, the system could ask how your day has been, detect your mood from your response and change the ambience of a room’s lighting to suit you. You could simply call out the name of a television programme you wish to view and the system would search an online database for it, making a demand from the television company to view it. The possibilities are limited only by the imaginations of systems designers and by the desires of potential purchasers. However, there is absolutely no doubt that the wondrous automation systems we are installing today are set to become far closer to human companions or butlers than we might realise.
For more information on home automation, visit www.houselectronic.co.uk, for more information on Artificial Intelligence contact: info@houselectronic.co.uk
For information on home automation professional services, visit www.houselectronic.com
Filed by admin at November 7th, 2007 under General