CastleOS - new home automation software with Kinect voice control

[Waynedb]

I have never lost a single Insteon dimmer, switch or keypadlinc to the point I can't control it remotely, I have a couple of dimmers with bad tact switches a remotelinc that I have replaced two tact switches on, I had lots of problems with my PLCs. I switched to a PLM and a ISY-99i and everything is working great now, I did add a handful of dual-band devices. I have had Insteon since Feb.2006.

So I guess you can say that I have a better opinion of Insteon now than I did several years back.

 

[Madcodger]

I lived through the early Insteon mess and after some battles finally got much of my v1 stuff replaced under warranty. We sold that house (with a bunch of replaced Insteon hardware) and it has been generally stable for the new owner, with maybe 1-2 device replacements per year out of over 70. That's about what I see with about 50 devices in the latest house. Generally I see failure of the switch itself in that it won't turn on or off locally, although I've had failures on the comm side as well. I also lose control/status of about one device every 4-6 months with the ISY, although a rewrite usually solves that.

Insteon prices were a bit lower than other systems for a while, although I haven't compared in quite a while. And Z-wave didn't appear any more reliable when I was most recently comparing technologies. So unless a person is going UPB or another system, it seems a reasonable value - but not perfect.

 

[pete_c]

Personally I was already on my way to replacing the Insteon switches; procrastinating having already purchased many UPB switches but not wanting to spend the time rewiring until this past summer.
 
I had a wierd backfeed of 220VAC from a shorting out AC compressor this past summer during a storm.  Initially I thought it was due to lightning (have a surge protector in place). During the occurance all of the interior lighting was flashing/buzzing.  I heard a loud noise outside and adjacent to the family room.  I went out side and noticed the source was around where the 220 AC feed went to the compressor.  (hissing, sparks and a small fire).  It was pouring rain when this occurred.  Later during replacement of the compressor I looked and noticed the connector with the powerline feed had fused together.  The hissing was freon leaking out of the compressor.  (the compressor/AC unit was about 10 years old).
 
That said the backfeed took out 100% of the Insteon switches making them disfunctional.  It was an odd freaky occurance and I have never had a similiar issue. 
 
About 6 breakers kicked off sometime (a second or two) after the surge. 
 
The UPB, Z-Wave and legacy X10 continued to work fine afterwards.   Televisions, appliances et all were not affected.
 
I replaced all of the Insteon switches over to UPB afterwards.

 

[wuench]

Just had a dimmer fail about a month ago.  It is an old original Insteon v.27 dimmer, several years old.  I have had a couple fail like that, dead to the world, no lights.   I also still have a couple that have the flicker issue, that I didn't replace.  SH gave me a lot of trouble when I wanted to replace a half dozen switches for the known flicker issue.  I have an old keypad I ripped out that constantly had comm issues.   Again I think these are all old stuff.    
 
On the bright side I just installed 8 switches and they all linked with no issues.  So maybe things are looking up..

 

[ChrisCicc]

New Video! 
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDTrQgYwcOA

 

[electron]

Not sure I see the point of this video, you really need to show off how well it works in a real environment, too much focus on animations IMO (assuming you are trying to use this as a sales tool).  What software did you use to create those effects?

 

[ChrisCicc]

Agreed, but the target audience is someone who's never seen it before. We'll see...that's why we're doing four variations As far as effects, I don't know, I'll have to ask the videographer. 
 
Edit: that is a real environment too, nothing is simulated or customized for the shoot. That's literally what I do every day when I come home (or instead say a specific scene). 

 

[electron]

While I like the effects from a technical point of view, you are drawing attention away from the cool things your product offers.  Instead of all the animation, with some words which aren't explained, I would focus on a real scenario, where a person walks into the room, and sits down while issuing a voice command to turn lights on/off or turn on a TV.  The microwave clock confused me, the power LED I could guess, but most people won't get it.
 
Again, just my opinion and constructive criticism, but most people (technical or not) do not like videos where there is little content, and too much filler material.

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

:hesaid: Agree, this video follows Belkin's model on home automation that caters only to the i-Crowd yuppies that think it is cool to turn lights on using their voice.   Definitely not for the typical Cocooner!
 
I noticed lately that you are talking up your software on our forums on a lot of threads, but something like voice recognition, which is difficult to implement, takes a lot more than 'smoke and mirrors' to do correctly!

 

[ChrisCicc]

:hesaid: Agree, this video follows Belkin's model on home automation that caters only to the i-Crowd yuppies that think it is cool to turn lights on using their voice.   Definitely not for the typical Cocooner!
 
I noticed lately that you are talking up your software on our forums on a lot of threads, but something like voice recognition, which is difficult to implement, takes a lot more than 'smoke and mirrors' to do correctly!

 
That was the first comment I've made in at least a couple of weeks
 
Have you see a voice control system that is better than CastleOS?

 

[ChrisCicc]

While I like the effects from a technical point of view, you are drawing attention away from the cool things your product offers.  Instead of all the animation, with some words which aren't explained, I would focus on a real scenario, where a person walks into the room, and sits down while issuing a voice command to turn lights on/off or turn on a TV.  The microwave clock confused me, the power LED I could guess, but most people won't get it.
 
Again, just my opinion and constructive criticism, but most people (technical or not) do not like videos where there is little content, and too much filler material.

 
Dan - I appreciate the constructive criticism, and truth be told, I agree with you on this video. We filmed four of these less-than-one-minute spots the same day, going for different feels, and different audiences. The next two will have more of what you're looking for, real-world living room (sitting down for a movie) and bedroom (changing the thermostat from bed). 

 

[pete_c]

Personally Chris; I think that the Kinect has a lot of potential relating to the HA world. 
 
A fine tuned VR set up is fine in general terms and I am guessing that it will attract those that have never done any HA stuff before in their house.
 
I would prefer seeing an HA product using all of the features that Kinect has; IE: using VR and facial recognition and gesture recognition and so forth and so on.
 
It is nice to have TTS and VR but I cannot have an interactive conversation today with my home automation computer.
 
Using VR is nice but we are now at a point in time (relating to technology) where its already old technology and somewhat almost antiquated unless we have a little bit of AI mixed with that whole VR/TTS thing. 
 
I already utilize different voice fonts in different rooms for different things; IE: the garage touch screens talks in portuguese - more to bug my wife and for me just a learning thing....

 

[damage]

That was the first comment I've made in at least a couple of weeks
 
Have you see a voice control system that is better than CastleOS?

 
all voice control videos look good in controlled conditions 

 

[iostream212]

Looks interesting. I registered to play around with the beta and the file that I downloaded was not an installer package. It was just a file with a file type of file. Added .exe and .msi extensions but that didn't work. Help. In the video I like being able to set a timer alert via voice. Can you change the trigger word from computer? What about security? Can anyone who knows the trigger words control your system?

 

[electron]

It better support the 'My voice is my password. Verify me' authentication mechanism  If someone has physical access to your house, you have bigger problems anyways.
 
I agree with pete_c, it needs to exploit more of the Kinect features in order to stand out, lots of potential there.