Voice-controlled personal assistant

[SNIPERDUDE]

QuantumPhysics @ November 15th 2012, 12:54 am wrote:

Control the light switch by saying on or off in the room you are in. That would be pretty cool, but how would you go about doing it?
Possibly even in your entire house, say "kitchen light on" and it turns on/off.

Replace the light switch with a digital variable resister (so dimming can also be achieved), then use some type of wireless signal to send/receive. With dimming you could do so much more too, such as waking up to a slowly brightening light, lighting a room only bright enough that natural lighting won't (keeping a consistent light level in the room), etc. Voice commands to access any room's lights would be sweet, though I'd also like to implement walking into the room turns on that room's lights, and turns the lights off behind you (after 30 seconds, to ensure you are staying in the room you are in).

This brings up how detection would be covered, and though webcams would be the simplest with what I have around, it may not be ideal for expansion. Perhaps motion detectors? Not elegant enough for what I want: users. Each person in the household would have their own set of preferences (desired lighting level [if multiple in the room, highest light level used], tempurature, etc). I'm thinking it would have to be a device the user would wear that sets off some type of wireless signature. Any ideas? EDIT: I'm thinking going with radio signals. Cheap and effective.

QuantumPhysics @ November 15th 2012, 12:54 am wrote:

If you have an electric door lock, trigger the lock/unlock by saying so.

I plan on this too. At the very least for areas of the home I wish extra security (ex: my bedroom). And if I can get the user recognition as mentioned above perhaps have all secure doors to adjoining rooms I have access to unlock for me when I enter a room (ex: standing in the hall, adjoining rooms I am allowed in unlock). Perhaps different tiers of doors could make it more secure (ex: front door to house and side door to house are more secure, so they don't automatically unlock when near).