from the New York Times
March 14, 1998
Computers That Tend the Home
By JAY ROMANO
W hat time is it?" Tim Shriver asked his computer. "The time is
12:32 P.M.," it said.
[INLINE]
Illustration: Tom Bloom
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"What is the temperature?" Shriver continued, interrogating the
computer from his office telephone with a reporter on the line.
"The temperature is 72 degrees," replied the vaguely robotic voice.
"Raise the thermostat four degrees," Shriver ordered.
"Please wait," the computer said, creating the odd impression that
it had to go somewhere to comply.
"I have adjusted the temperature four degrees."
Welcome to the world of home automation.
"What we're doing here is some very sophisticated word-spotting,"
said Shriver, president of Home Automated Living, a Burtonsville,
Md., company that created HAL2000, the voice on the other end of
the line.
HAL2000 is a home-automation system that quite neatly illustrates
the relatively recent convergence of sophisticated hardware and
software technologies, which has resulted in an avalanche of new
products designed to turn the ordinary house into a sort of huge
computer peripheral.
"Home automation isn't just about turning the lights on and off
anymore," Shriver said.
The heart of the HAL2000 system, he explained, is a voice
recognition software program that turns spoken commands into
instructions a computer can understand.
The computer then executes those commands by communicating through
its serial port with an external device that can activate or
deactivate just about anything in a house that is electrically
powered.
"I can control my lights, appliances, thermostats, home theater,
televisions, stereos, security system, intercoms and even my
lawn-sprinkler system," Shriver said.
"I can check my e-mail, get stock quotes, retrieve telephone
messages, check the weather, find out what's on television and even
make a videotape of a program."
______________________________________________________________
You instruct the software to activate the computer in response to a
specific word
Shriver, president of Home Automated Living
______________________________________________________________
Surely Shriver was exaggerating.
"What is on CBS at 1 P.M.?" he asked the computer.
"College basketball."
"Record college basketball."
"Recording college basketball."
Well, so much for not being able to figure out how to program the
VCR.
"You don't have to use a telephone, either," Shriver said,
explaining that the system can accept voice commands through "open
microphones" installed throughout the house.
"You instruct the software to activate the computer in response to
a specific word," he said, providing a telephonic demonstration.
"Hello Rosie," he said.
"Hello," replied the computer, which was still connected and
waiting in silence.
The device that Shriver's software sends most of its commands to
was designed 20 years ago by Pico Electronics Ltd., a small
engineering firm in Glenrothes, Scotland. The company created the
technology upon which most of today's home automation designs are
based -- the "X-10."
"We've been around awhile," said Dave Rye, vice president and
technical manager of X-10 Ltd., a Closter, N.J., company that owns
Pico Electronics and manufactures a rapidly increasing number of
X-10 products.
Rye, who is one of the originators of the X-10 system, explained
that X-10 controllers and modules -- devices that transmit and
receive commands that control attached electrical devices -- have
been used in homes for about two decades.
Many thousands of X-10 units, Rye said, have been sold over the
years under licensing agreements the company has with Sears Roebuck
and Radio Shack.
Originally, Rye said, the X-10 system was designed to do little
more than allow for remote control of lights and accessories
throughout a house from a central location.
X-10 modules, which are plugged into wall outlets and then serve as
receptacles for power cords from lights or appliances, receive
signals transmitted from a controller unit. While the original
capabilities of the system were limited to turning things on and
off, its appeal results from its use of the home's existing power
supply as a conduit for transmission and from its relatively low
cost -- X-10 modules range in price from $13 to $30 each,
controllers from $13 to $70.
It is only recently, however, that the potential of the X-10 is
being realized through the ubiquitous presence of personal
computers in homes.
"We call this convergence," said Rick Thompson, director of
marketing for IBM's Consumer Division in Research Triangle Park,
N.C.
Convergence, he said, is the coming together of two previously
independent technologies.
Thompson explained that IBM was now using X-10 controllers and
modules to carry out the commands issued by its Home Director
software program.
Like the original X-10 system, he said, the Home Director can
switch lights and appliances on and off in remote locations. More
importantly, however, the software allows a homeowner to program
instructions and routines for the X-10 system to follow whether or
not the homeowner is there.
In addition, Thompson said, the computer can be connected to motion
detectors, security systems and intercoms.
"If you've got a security system with a camera and a personal
computer," he said, "you can link them all together, take a picture
of the kids at the door when they come home from school and then
have the computer e-mail the picture to mom and dad's computers at
work."
The Home Director program, he said, which operates through X-10
controllers, modules, wall switches and motion sensors, can also be
used to control air-conditioners, garage-door openers, electric
locks and gas fireplaces.
And since the X-10 technology uses the house's existing wiring,
installation essentially boils down to loading software into the
computer, attaching the controller to the serial port and plugging
the individual appliance modules into wall outlets.
"Then your power lines become a home network for your computer,"
Thompson said, adding that, like HAL2000, the Home Director allows
for instructions to be sent to the computer over the telephone.
Unlike HAL2000, however, the Home Director is not voice-activated;
commands must be entered on the telephone keypad.
The price of the Home Director software, Thompson said, is about
$100. The price of the HAL2000 system, which includes a controller
and module, is $399.
Information about many other home automation systems and
manufacturers may be obtained by calling the Home Automation
Association in Washington at (202) 712-9050.
Copyright 1998 The New York Times Company
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