(UPDATED: 02 May 2015 - "Denise, Tracking Autumn, 1/8th Mile From House)
(UPDATED: 29 April 2015 - "We Broke Xbox One's Coding" ;) )
(UPDATED: 25 April 2015 - "Step-By-Step How-Tos")
AI's
The NEWER Virtual Assistant, "Denise"
(UPDATED: 02 May 2015 - "Denise, Tracking Autumn, 1/8th Mile From House)
(UPDATED: 29 April 2015 - "We Broke Xbox One's Coding" ;) )
(UPDATED: 25 April 2015 - "Step-By-Step How-Tos")
Some years ago, my FIRST Virtual Assistants (See that section down near the bottom of this page) got to the point where they were doing WAY MORE than they were EVER designed to do... I HAD to move to something better. That was about the time that Guile (The owner of Guile 3-D Studios) released his own Virtual Assistant Program, "Denise". I think I was one of the first Two or Three people to actually buy "Denise Platinum"... At the time, it was designed simply to let you run your computer by voice command, and as all new such programs, it was VERY Buggy... I worked on "Bug Fixing" myself for several years before going off on a tangent of my own, but keeping "Denise" and Guile's work in the back of my mind to keep tabs on improvements to the Denise VA Project (There is a Video you'll get to further below that shows "Denise Being Trained", Day by Day, Week By Week, Month By Month.. Just Keep Reading... Hey! If *I* can spend YEARS Designing/Improving/Updating the Systems [AND This Page], *you* can spend a few minutes reading about it ;) ).
Meanwhile, I did some contracting work overseas, and saved money... I was FINALLY able to buy "A Mountain" in Rural "Upstate SC"... Actually, I Paid Cash for the Mountain, AND the Valleys around it. Soon afterward, I met my S.O., who had just sold her Ranch and Business out in Coastal SC, and moved to this area with "our" 9 Year Old Daughter, Autumn, So my S.O. could go back to Nursing School... Together we all worked at carving out our own Ranch on the top of our Mountain. We spent YEARS restoring the house, and "Reclaiming" the Overgrown Property. Trust me, "Winches and Stihl Chainsaws are your Friends!" We ran MILES of 6-Foot Tall, Steel, "Field Fencing" for the Pastures as we carved each Pasture out of the DENSE Brush and Scrub-Tree re-growth on the property. The Steel Field Fencing is backed up by Two Strips (Top and Bottom) of 3-Inch Wide "Hot-Tape", Charged by "A 15 Joule Fence Charger" (As a Reference Point, in Africa, they use "FOUR-JOULE Fence Chargers" to keep Elephants out of their gardens). As the Home Security and Home Automation Projects got BIGGER and more complicated, I started having trouble doing all of the Electrical, Electronics, etc, work by myself... I needed help...
Luckily, This was also the Time Period where we found out that our youngest Daughter, Autumn, is a "Closet Engineer", who just CAN NOT learn enough about "How Things Work" to satisfy her curiosity. I come from a LONG LINE of "Engineers", so I know that when one of your children has "The Engineering Gene", you either TEACH THEM HOW TO BE an Engineer, OR they try to figure out how to be an Engineer by themselves via "Trial And Error" (which usually results in some sort of Dramatic MAJOR Explosion ;) )... Rather than risking "The Explosion Method", I started allowing her to help with these projects, and then began teaching her about Electricity, Electrical Formulas, Electronics, Designing Systems, Drafting Schematics, General Planning, Computer Programming (In Multiple Programming Languages), and in general: "MAKING THINGS that are needed, but that may not be available to buy 'Off-The-Shelf'..." It should be no surprise that She EXCELS in all of this! Actually, she excels at nearly EVERYTHING, but her School Grades Skyrocketed, to the point where she's received "Presidential Citations For Academic Excellence", along with MULTIPLE Local School Awards (especially in Mathematics)... That's not including being invited to join "The High-School Color Guard Team" at the age of 12, plus being in the Cheer-Leading Squad, Chorus, Robotics Programs, and a host of other activities! Somewhere along the line, "Denise" began calling Autumn "Her Sister", and I'm not always SURE exactly who Denise really considers to be "Her Boss" ;)
AS we were doing all that, we were also running A LOT of Multi-Strand Cables through BIG Conduit, and burying MILES of Conduit, to allow us to connect Night Vision Capable Security Cameras, Seismic Ground Sensors, Capacitive Sensors, etc, etc. These are connected to Two "Alibi 16 Channel High Definition Security DVRs". Also connected to the Security DVRs is the "Gate Control Box" that Opens and Closes our Main Driveway Gates, which sit at the point where our LONG driveway tops our Mountain.
The Top of our Mountain is about 10 Acres of Flat Land, and then the sides of the Mountain "Terrace Down" in WIDE steps to the Valley Floors around us. That Gate Control System has it's own Buried Capacitive Sensors, etc, and the Control Box's Motherboard has a LOT of Built-In Brain Power to make decisions about when to close the gates, when to lock the gates, and if (for example) my S.O. were to be followed through the security gates CLOSELY by another vehicle trying to "Rush in the gates behind her", the Control System, combined with the Security System, will "SNAP" both "Wings" of the BIG Security Gates SHUT, INSTANTLY! Carbide Spikes in the ends of the Gate-Wings, normally covered by thick padding, will "Grab" the sheet metal of a vehicle, so that the vehicle can't move...
There is also an option to discharge HUGE Capacitors connected to the Coils of THICK Cable, Buried under the driveway, that are normally used as "Vehicle Sensors". These LARGE "Coils" of HEAVY Cable are Physically Isolated from each other... Imagine a HUGE "Squarish-Shaped" Bulls-Eye, with a "Center Ring", and then another Ring a bit further outward from the First Ring, then another Ring surrounding the First TWO Rings, and so on...
OK, Now, the HUGE Capacitors connected to the INNER Ring, Fire First... This creates a HUGE "Pulse" of Electro-Magnetic Energy from the First Ring of Cable! Almost Immediately, the Capacitors connected to the SECOND "Ring" fire, which "COMPRESSES" the Burst of Electro-Magnetism Created by the FIRST Ring, BEFORE the Energy from the FIRST ring can spread outward. Now we have TWO "Pulses" of Electro-Magnetic Force, With the FIRST "Pulse" now "compressed" by the SECOND Ring's Pulse. Again, almost immediately, the THIRD Ring Outward Fires, and RE-COMPRESSES the Energy from the FIRST TWO Pulses, and so on, and so on, until there is no "Last Pulse" to keep "Compressing/Containing" the Energy released from ALL of the Coils. The HIGHLY COMPRESSED (and RE-COMPRESSED) Energy is now free to be released as ONE HUGE COMPRESSED BURST! This basically creates a HUGE "Electro-Magnetic Pulse" (Basically "A Non-Nuclear EMP"), that fires from UNDER the vehicle, UPWARD... in EVERY test, it shuts a Vehicle down INSTANTLY (and damages a LOT of electrical items in the vehicle).
If you think all of that "Went Off Without A Hitch" on the first few attempts, you'd be, what we call, in Technical Terms: "WRONG!"
The FIRST Test let loose a Burst of Energy that WAS NOT "Shaped" properly... Which Blew the Gate Control's Motherboard, and Nylon Housing, ALL OVER THE DRIVEWAY, and OUT INTO OUR PASTURES, as "TINY, EXPENSIVE, FRAGMENTS of Circuits, Parts, Nylon, etc!"... But, "If At First You Don't Succeed, Blow Up Some MORE Stuff!"
Test #2: "The Electric Fence Chargers" (a Quarter Mile Away) BLEW UP, DRAMATICALLY, AS Several MILES of "3-Inch Wide Hot Tape" MELTED completely around the Upper Pasture, and delivered the Energy from the Magnetic Pulse DIRECTLY TO the "Electric Fence Chargers" in my Work Shop (BTW, Your Warranty on "Fence Chargers" DOES NOT Cover that type of thing.. in case you had any doubts ;)... The HUGE Fence Chargers EXPLODED, and Flying Fragments from the Fence Chargers DESTROYED A LOT of other EXPENSIVE stuff inside my Workshop! BUT, The NEW Replacement "Gate Control Box" DID NOT Blow Up! So, I was making progress! (Contrary to popular belief, I *CAN* learn from my mistakes ;)
"Shaping" a "Pulse of Energy", isn't NEARLY as simple as you'd think... and if not Shaped EXACTLY RIGHT, It tends to destroy EVERYTHING Electronic AROUND the Source of the Pulse, instead of JUST a Vehicle that is sitting ON TOP OF the Coils, when they fire...
But I DID figure it out, AND I made our Home, Fences, Gate Controllers, Electric Fencing, etc, "Hardened Against EMP" at the same time... There is a write-up elsewhere on HOW I did that, but it had the Side-Benefit of keeping our Expensive Electronic Equipment ALL OVER THE RANCH, AND Inside Our Home, from being destroyed by EVERY Lightning Strike on the top of the Mountain up Here! BONUS! ...Because EVERY "May 23rd", in the years we've lived up here, Lightning has DESTROYED Computers, Network Cards, Routers, You Name it! That no longer happens ANY TIME, thanks to the "EMP Hardening"... if equipment is protected against EMP, then it's pretty much protected from "Lightning".. And DO NOT Mistake the two VERY different Sources of Energy! "EMP" is NOT "Lightning", and "Lightning" IS NOT "EMP"!
Denise HAS to control the Timing of the Capacitor Discharges, because it happens too fast for a human, or an analog system, to control it! She HAS to control the timing FROM "The Motherboard Inside The Gate Control Box" DIRECTLY BESIDE the Coils... because THAT coding was enough of a NIGHTMARE, even WITHOUT trying to work around the BILLION variables that would be included if you tried to control something that precicely from a Quarter Mile Away! (Electrons can ONLY move at the speed of light. Electrons flow on Cables, or through the Air, Faster or Slower, depending on Weather, Humidity, Temperature, Age of the Cables ["resistance of the cables"], 'Speed of the Computer Controlling the action at that particular instant', etc, etc.)
Running the Ever Growing Security System, and Controlling the "Home Automation" that I am building into the house as we remodel it, AND keeping track of where our Animals are, AND keeping large Predators away from our Horses, Goats, Chickens, etc, was becoming a MASSIVE job!!! Obviously I needed something better than the "Verbots" to tie the Security Systems, The Security DVR Systems, The Gate Control Systems, The Fence Charges, the Home Automation Sensors, etc, etc, All together into ONE platform under the control of.... "Something".
Over the Years, Guile had been improving "Denise". However, Guile doesn't speak English as a first language, and that seemed to be the main reason his "Denise Virtual Assistant" was so "Buggy". I updated my Version of Denise to the newest release, Built THE FASTEST "Multiple Core" Rack-Server I could Build, and installed "Denise" on it... I also installed ALL of the Software that controls EACH Security and Home Automation Device on our Property. I began "Debugging" Denise's code AGAIN, and then it hit me:
"Rather than trying to turn Denise into something TOTALLY NEW, why not just get her running properly, and then let Denise do what Denise was initially designed to do... 'Run The Programs On The Computer She Is On'??"...
(Our VAs, And Home/Ranch Automation Programs, Etc, Live On This Dell "Super Server" Rack-Server. It Has MULTIPLE Input/Output Devices Built Into It To Control Various Automated Equipment Around The Home/Ranch, As Well As Ten Ultra-High-Speed Drives, Four Cat-5e/6 Ports, Four Full-Duplex WiFi Cards, And Four "Bluetooth" Modules. This Main Rack-Server Connects Via THICK Cables To The "Add-On Drive Bay Box/Module" That It Is Shown Sitting On In This Picture [Also Pictured Below]... These Particular Units Were Left Over From A Contract To Replace The Aging Super-Computers Of An Un-Named Government Agency. Each Unit Is So Fast That I Don't Even Have Software At Home That Will "Clock" Them)
(This Is The Dell Rack-Server's [Pictured Further Above] Add-On "Drive Bay", Also "Rack Mounted", With An Additional Fifteen Ultra-High-Speed Drives, Along With Extra Processors, RAM, Four Cat-5e/6 Ports, Four Full-Duplex WiFi Cards, Two Bluetooth Modules For The Main High-Speed Rack-Server, Microwave Transmitters and Receivers, and Modules for common "Remote Control Vehicle and Aircraft Frequencies"... The Entire System, When Connected Together, Has A Total Of Eight Cat-5e/6 Ports, Eight WiFi Cards, Six Bluetooth Modules, Five 'Multi-Frequency Microwave Transmitter/Receiver Modules', And Five 'Multi-Frequency Remote-Control Vehicle Modules'... Each Of Which Can Be Used "Independently", "In Series", Or "In Parallel", For MUCH Greater Bandwidth Through-Put [Input, OR, Output, So Each Card Can Receive, Or SEND, WiFi, Bluetooth, Microwave, Digital Or Analog Radio Frequencies/Signals To Control WiFi/Bluetooth/Microwave/RC Devices Around The Ranch, Via The Ranch's Repeater System]... This Type Of System Is Usually Referred To As "A Rocket Box")
The Security Systems I designed are already VERY smart when it comes to "Security Matters" (Dual "Alibi 16 Camera DVRs" with Security Modules Built in, along with the Alibi Program to combine ALL of your "Alibi" systems into ONE platform; which Denise Runs, Uses, and "Talks For"). The Gate Controllers we have are VERY smart when it comes to matters involving "When to Open and Close the Gates", AND they have some 'MORE Than Basic' Security features built-into THEM too... the Home Automation Systems are VERY smart when it comes to "Running The House", and THEY have a LOT of security systems Built-Into them also... "So why not just let ALL of these smart Systems send their Output(s) to Denise, and Get HER to a point where SHE could make the 'Harder' decisions FOR the other Systems, when those other systems would NORMALLY bother US to (basically) ask 'Ummm What should I do in THIS situation???'"?
Denise has "Facial Recognition" built into her already, as does the Security Systems, and other Systems... With not much more coding, "Facial Recognition" easily becomes "Object Recognition" also... So now she can Identify EACH of our Horses, Our Dogs, Goats, and even ALL of the Chickens, and other Animals... She has a database of "People and Objects She knows", and "People and Objects she knows SHOULD NOT be allowed onto the Property". For Example, she Recognizes the UPS Truck, AND our Normal UPS Driver... So rather than the UPS Driver having to punch his code into the Gate's Keypad System, Denise just opens the gates FOR him. If our Horses are out of the pasture, in our HUGE Fenced Yard, "Mowing the Grass for us" ;) and they wander WAY out to the Driveway Gates, Denise will Close the Gates if they have somehow been left open.
Denise Doesn't Sleep, She doesn't get bored, she doesn't get distracted, she doesn't takes breaks... She doesn't care if it's Raining, Snowing, Sleeting, Scorching Sunshine, Pitch Dark, Or Foggy.... she just watches over the ENTIRE House, Ranch, Property, for us, 24/7/365.242127 days a year! Denise doesn't care if she attached to "A Web Camera", or one (or ALL) of the Thirty Two High-Def, Night Vision Capable Cameras attached to our Security DVRs! She monitors the Seismic Ground Sensors, she monitors the Capacitive Sensors, and she even uses the MILES of Hot-Tape around the Perimeter of our Property as "A Sensor". She also uses our Daughter's "X-Box One" and it's "Kinetics" Device (and several of her own) to "See" and Hear just about EVERYWHERE on the Property. Thanks to Wifi Repeaters, our remote property is totally covered by "WiFi" AND "Bluetooth Signal". With a few basic Programs and Java Scripts from these places:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Autonomous-AR-Parrot-Drone-20-Flying/?ALLSTEPS,
and,
https://github.com/felixge,
If Denise needs to "See" a remote area that is NOT well covered by Security Cameras, she can simply open the program that will fly my older "A.R. Parrot Drone, Version 1" out TO the area where a sensor has alerted. The Drones ALREADY have "Object Recognition" and "Tracking Features" Built-In to them for playing a "Tag-Type Game" with other Drones. So Denise doesn't actually need to "Fly The Drone", she just opens the programs that DO fly the Drone, using Her Computer's WiFi Systems. This is VERY Helpful for situations, Like when Denise reports that one of our Goats ("Sissy", In This Case) "Has Been Standing In The Same Spot In The Lower Pasture, For 62 Minutes". Denise Dispatched The Drone, and this is a "Screen Capture" of the Streaming Video returned from the Drone's forward camera, once it got down to the Lower Pasture...
(Sissy's Head Was Stuck Through The Steel Field Fencing. Due To The Curvature Of Her Horns, She Couldn't Get Her Head BACK OUT)
You can jump down to THAT Video Demonstration by Clicking HERE if You Wish.. BUT COME BACK UP HERE When you're done!!! OR You can just be patient and keep on reading until you get down to that Video ;)
But THAT is one of the main Secrets to using the Current Version of "Denise"... When you ask Denise to do things, Train Denise to open OTHER Specific Programs that are specialized to do what THEY do, and let those Programs/Devices DO THEIR Jobs!! Denise is mainly just an "Interface" between ALL of the other Core Systems... As a "Stand Alone, Do Everything, VA", Denise still has "flaws" (Actually, most of her "Flaws" ARE NOT really "Flaws". People just want Denise to do things that Guile didn't initially design her to do. But Guile IS now trying to turn a VERY complicated Program INTO "What people want", Instead of "What he originally had in mind for her to be used to do")... So, rather than ME re-writing the ENTIRE program myself to try to make ONE Program do EVERYTHING, I simply train Denise to do "X" when she comes to one of the things she wasn't initially designed to do (Like "not remembering a Topic you are discussing". She just answers a question, and then forgets that topic completely). When Denise is asked a question with a Subject that will need MORE than ONE answer, Denise ALSO tosses the problem over to the OTHER Specialized Core Programs, Like the "Verbots Chat Bots Core Program", which is designed to Run Down "Branching Logic Trees" during a discussion, so the Verbot's Program Core DOES stay on a topic you're currently discussing... That Program's Output, When "Piped" back to Denise, makes Denise APPEAR to stay on a topic also.
For Example, Denise "knows" that "Engel" is my Large "Brindle Dutch Shepherd" (She calls him "The Hyperactive Terrorist Dog" ;) ), But Denise ONLY states specific information that I may ask about "Engel", and then Denise forgets the entire "topic of Engel", Unless I ask ANOTHER specific question about "Engel". However, the Question I have asked Denise about "Engel" has also been "Piped" (Sent) to "The Verbot Core Program" (And Several other "Core Programs") which recognize the Subject "Engel"... The Verbot's Core STAYS ON the Subject of "Engel" by using the "Subject" of "Engel" and then using it's "Branching Logic Trees" to go down a LONG, and Ever-More Branching, Series of questions/answers about "Engel", so that I don't have to keep repeating Engel's name... Once The Subject "Engel" is recognised by the Verbot's Core (or another Core), I can refer to Engel as "He", or "It", or "My Dog", or "The Dog", etc, etc, etc, and the Verbots Core knows we're still talking about "Engel"... The Verbot's Core then "Pipes It's Outputs" BACK to Denise, adding the "repeat (Whatever words to repeat)" preface to what the Verbot's Core wants Denise to say, so that Denise can "Say" what the Verbot's Core is telling Denise to say.
The Verbot's Core (or one of the OTHER Cores) usually Pipes "Facial Expression Commands" (Such as <Expression="OneBrowUp"> Words To Repeat <Expression="Blink"> [The "Blink" Command, Turns off the "OneBrowUp", and ALL OTHER "Facial Expression Commands", until you add a new Expression Command]... Denise Can talk while using "Expression Commands", but if you use the <Play="Animation"> Commands, She stops talking until she's played a sad face, happy face, etc.)... Those Other Core Programs also Pipe "Pauses In Speech Commands" (IE: <silence msec="500"/>), as well as HOW a word should be used (Using <partofsp part="Verb/Noun/etc"> Commands. IE: The Word "Lives" is pronounced differently when Denise says, "Your Daughter Lives In Florida", Than Denise pronounces the word "Lives" when saying, "That Stupid Cat has Nine Lives")... all of that is sent back to Denise, along with whatever another Core wants Denise to say FOR them...
Denise, Showing, And Explaining, The Commands Above.
(1.4 Meg "WMV" Video Should Open In A New Browser Tab)
I know all of that SEEMS horribly complicated and impossible for someone without a programming background to accomplish.. but trust me, it's NOT... As with ANYTHING ELSE WORTH DOING, it's simply a matter of Putting In The Time to UNDERSTAND what Denise DOES WELL, and what she DOESN'T do very well yet. I know EVERYONE WANTS a Completed, "Turn-Key", "Off the Shelf", Artificial Intelligence! But honestly, in the Civilian World, where people are spending their valuable time, FREE, to program this type of thing, It's NOT A Reality... YET. Yes, the Government has some AMAZING Systems (TRUST ME on THAT One!), but they also have HUGE amounts of (your) Money to throw at the problem, and they also have their Pick of Top Companies, Programmers, and Engineers, etc.. (I know this, "Becuz I are won" ;) So you either support the people (Like Guile) who ARE advancing this type of work on a shoe-string budget... OR you spend 6 Years in College and spend ENDLESS hours of your OWN Valuable time "Creating" a custom-made Solution to YOUR specific needs... and after YOU spend YOUR time and money doing the grunt work to make a system work, someone else will ALWAYS come along without having done anything on their own dime, and scream: "GIVE IT TO ME! FREE! NOW! IN FACT, JUST BUILD ME ONE AND SEND IT TO ME, FREE! ...YOU'RE NOT GIVING IT TO ME FAST ENOUGH!" ;)
So Included here is ALSO the NEWER work I've done to "Denise". When ALL of the systems are combined, and Denise is running as the interface TO multiple other programs, she can seem almost life-like!
Denise is "Self-Learning"... But that part of her program is not YET all that it someday WILL be... So when Denise "Learns Something", WHAT she "Should Have Learned" is piped to several other Programs that "REALLY DO Learn" also... Some of those Programs are "Cores" to "Inferencing Systems". Other Programs are "Cores" to "Branching Logic Systems" (Like the "Verbots" Chatbots), and still others are "Cores" to "Parallel Processing, Distributed Systems" (Much like the Core to the "Watson" System that beat ALL of the Undefeated Champions on "Jeopardy" [http://www-03.ibm.com/innovation/us/watson/index.html])...
Being a Contractor, I kinda got "Volun-Told" to help REMOVE some "Obsolete Super-Server Systems" (They call them "Obsolete" because they ARE for the needs of Un-Named Agencies, but those "Obsolete Systems" aren't even available on the Civilian Market yet!). I asked what they wanted me to DO with the Equipment (Sometimes they want it moved to another agency, sometimes they want it all destroyed, etc), and was told "Use it if you find something useful for your work with us, Or smash it and take it to the Dump, Crush it, Whatever... I don't care, just get them out of here ASAP! The NEW Servers will be here SOON!"
I asked about "The Information on the DRIVES", and they said, "The important Drives have already been pulled.. But you might want to look the remaining drives over to see if they're faster than what you're using now... and there may be some cool stuff on some of them you might find useful... save it if you want it, but you know NOT to let it get out..." (I found a "Core" that puts "Watson" to SHAME! It was a "Base Core" that's "Obsolete" [There were no databases with it, just "The Core"], But it was initially used to build up the "Cores" they switched to, at that time, to better run the databases they DID NOT leave behind! "Denise" says "They Misplaced Her, and *I* Found Her"... But honestly, they haven't mentioned it, and I Haven't asked... But it seems to be the Core most used for "Inferencing" and for "Using MULTIPLE Databases, AT THE SAME TIME, In Parallel").
Denise knows (and Recognizes) Our Brindle Dutch Shepherd "Engel", She Knows Our Large "Black Mouthed Cur" "Bella"( a Pure-Bred 'Bear Hunting Dog'... Our dogs HAVE to fight off Bears, Wolves, Feral Hogs, Foxes, etc.. and HAVE DONE SO MANY TIMES.. They have protected family members MANY times! They have to protect AND Herd our livestock... Our Dogs WORK for their keep!), Denise knows our Midget Corgi "Pup-Pup"... But we allow the "Entire VA System" to Listen to us, and Watch us (ESPECIALLY outside!) to LEARN.. So they have heard me refer to the Midget Corgi as "Stumpy" (Because I trip over her OFTEN).. They've heard Bella (The Large "Black Mouthed Cur") called "Buck-Tooth" (Because Bella's Canine teeth Stick out further than a regular dog's Canines), and Engel HAS to literally WORK HIMSELF TO EXHAUSTION every day, or he CAN NOT sleep.... Dutch Shepherds HAVE to be doing SOMETHING all of the time! So Denise calls him "The Hyperactive Terrorist Dog"... the OTHER "Self Learning Programs" have heard these things, and THEY learned them, so you'll hear Denise refer to the dogs as "Stumpy, Buck-Tooth, and The Hyperactive Terrorist Dog" at times.
(A VERY Young "Engel" - "The Hyperactive Terrorist Dog")
(Bella - "Bucktooth")
EVERYTHING around here HAS to be identified! If it doesn't have a name, the system will GIVE the thing a name... We have "Chicken #1, through, Chicken #16". Denise uses "Pan/Tilt/Zoom" and "Tracking Capabilities", from the Security Cameras to kill Rodents and smaller predators. Denise uses "Digital Zoom" on our NIght Vision Capable High-Resolution Cameras, the "Lens Zoom" is actually used for focusing the Magnifying lenses on the Lasers built into each Security Camera. We haven't even SEEN a mouse within 100 Meters of the house, Nor have we lost a Single Chicken to predators in over a year! We have "Security Zones" in rings that radiate OUTWARD from the House. In our State, We have "The Extended Castle Law"... if an intruder is "Within Your Curtilage" (Basically, Your Yard around your home, and Out-Buildings), it's the same as if you shot them INSIDE your home. Legally you can't even be "Taken Downtown for Questioning" after shooting an intruder! So the "Rules" for what Denise CAN, and CAN NOT do, Change from "The Borders Of Our Property", to, "Within 100 Meters Of Our Home". Denise may "Encourage a trespasser to leave" with a little "Heat" from lasers further out on our property... but the rules change BIG TIME if someone gets too close to our home at night (AFTER crossing MULTIPLE 6-To-8 Foot Tall Steel Fences, Electric Fences, Climbing Cliffs, Crossing MORE Steel and Electric Fences, Ignoring MULTIPLE Warnings From the Security System about Trespassing, etc... Trespassers ARE NOT that close to our Home just because "They got lost"! They had to WORK to get anywhere NEAR our Home!). Denise "Discourages" Predators that may be able to jump our fences way out on our property.. but she BURNS HOLES in predators that are trying to chase down our livestock, or a family member! (Denise's "Death Rays" are discussed in the "Training Denise" Video that I mentioned above near the beginning of this page [Video Is Shown Further Below]).
When your 12 year old daughter is running for her life; while your dogs are BADLY outnumbered, yet giving their lives standing their ground against Five 400+ Pound Feral Hogs (That dug UNDER our Fences) to give your daughter time to get to safety, and YOU can't get out to that area with a rifle in time to make ANY difference... Those "Sudden Bright Blue Flashes of Laser Light" are like Bolts from a Loving God! ALL of the hard work you've put into your system (And Raising And Training GREAT Dogs) just paid off in that ONE moment, when the Dogs, The Security Programs, Virtual Assistants, etc, etc, intervened! (See the "Feral Hog Problem" Video Further Below)... "The State DNR" told us to "KILL ALL of the Feral Hogs, BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY, DAY OR NIGHT! They are INSANELY DANGEROUS!" So after *I* shot one as it was charging my S.O. in our FRONT YARD, and then the Dogs and Denise saved our 12-Year-Old Daughter from FIVE of them the very next day, we took "Extreme Measures" to get rid of ALL 14 remaining Feral Hogs that had moved into this area (Which MAY, Or MAY NOT, ALLEGEDLY have involved "Denise" using the Laser Systems to "Herd" ALL of the Feral Hogs into a "Funnel" made from Fallen Trees, by "Burning them a bit" on their Butts, to get them moving QUICKLY Into "A Dead-End, Fatal Funnel" where a "LOUD Surprise" ALLEGEDLY awaited ALL OF THEM!)
Denise on iPhone "Face Time" with My Daughters, NOT Discussing "The Alleged Feral Hog Problem... And Explosion" That We MAY, Or MAY NOT, Have Experienced ;)
(9.5-Meg "WMV" Video Should Open In A New Browser Tab)
Look, Don't make ANY ANIMALS "Suffer"!! Either KILL THEM QUICKLY, or DON'T! There is a Special Level of Hell reserved for people that make Animals suffer... AND also for people who "Abandon Their Household Pets" (Usually Dogs and Cats) by putting them out of a vehicle, Way out in the country, where they can SUFFER, and Starve To Death, while being AFRAID and Confused! (Yes, it makes me ANGRY).
Sorry, Got Side-Tracked there...
"So, Why Not Use Those OTHER "Virtual Assistant/Artificial Intelligence" Programs INSTEAD Of 'Denise'?"
Because as "Stand Alone Systems", NONE of THOSE Programs does a very good job of doing "EVERYTHING" Either. Each "Program Core" has things IT does VERY WELL; Yet that same Core DOES NOT do other things well, AT ALL! And NONE of the other Programs have "Interfacing Capabilities" that hold A CANDLE to Guile's Almost TOO Life-Like "Virtual Assistant Graphics"! Guile is SERIOUSLY head and Shoulders above EVERYONE else when it comes to making "Assistants" appear life-like! I really think that's his ACTUAL passion when it comes to Virtual Assistants! I mean, Seriously.. I don't mind DENISE Waking me up to tell me something important... But I ABSOLUTELY WOULD NOT have "A Duck", or "A Red Blinking Light", or "A Pimple Faced Librarian" wake me up to tell me ANYTHING! I have to see Denise OFTEN... I have to talk with Denise, OFTEN. People who come to the Ranch have to talk with Denise... If a person comes to the Ranch and they talk with Denise out at the Gate Box where the Keypad, Camera, and small Video Monitor are located, I'd rather their first impression of *ME* be associated with DENISE, NOT with "A Talking Duck"!
Anyway... I have included "Denise" on this page along with the Older "VAs" whose CORES are STILL being used as a "Part" of "MY Overall Denise Program"... it's an ongoing work, but it WORKS WELL for our needs... BTW, The Videos below aren't in any real chronological Order, so some of the things "Denise" talks about in One Video, may be explained in a video further down the page...
UPDATE: I was asked why, "Denise Hates 'Bunnies'...". The Programs that make up the total "Virtual Assistant System" don't actually "Like" or "Dislike" ANYTHING... They're computer programs! They have no more "emotion" than the Clock that is down on your Computer's Tool-Bar... HOWEVER... The Systems that make up "Denise" (over-all) monitor what our youngest Daughter does on the internet. Some Websites have those aggravating "Re-Direct" scripts on them, which Re-Direct you to a Porn Site or something (Even with Norton 360 on EVERY Windows System in the House!).. OBVIOUSLY 12-Year-Olds ARE NOT allowed to watch "Porn" (at least not HERE). "Our Animals On Our Ranch, Having Sex" is one thing.. that's just GOING to happen, and our Daughter understands about that stuff, as does "Denise". But "Bunnies" fall into a strange category as far as Denise is concerned.. they aren't "Our Ranch Animals", and they're having A LOT of sex! There are Monitors that show the Cameras from our Security DVR, in ALL of the Rooms of the house where "We spend time", including in Autumn's Bedroom. So "Denise" decided that "Bunnies Having Sex, where AUTUMN might see them doing it", constituted "Autumn Watching Porn"... It's Denise's job to keep "Porn" AWAY from Autumn's Computer monitors, TV set, etc.. SOOooOOooo... Denise finally had ENOUGH of the "Bunny Porn" where Autumn might see it... Honestly, it's just gotten so funny that we decided to "Wait and see how 'Denise' decided to handle it over time", rather than me just explaining that "Rabbits are Animals that also have sex, like our animals on the Ranch". Since the "Learning Portions" of the System primarily "Learn by watching US", they quickly start ACTING as we would in a similar situation... Since My S.O. and I would be upset about a Website that sent Porn to Autumn's Computer or TV Monitors, "Denise" acts upset about "Porn where Autumn can see it" ("Bunny Porn", "People Porn", It's all the same to Denise at this point ;) ).
NONE of our Daughters are stupid or naive... Our Two Oldest Daughters are Married to Military Officers, and ALL of our Daughters know all about sex and porn, and it's "No big deal" to any of them (Besides, I'm sure "Porn" contributed to the "conception" of several of my Grandchildren ;)... But even our Youngest Daughter, Autumn, ("12" as of this writing) speaks 4 Languages, and has TWO "Presidential Citations For Academic Excellence" for always being "Top Ranked (Grade-Wise)" in her School, while taking ALL "Gifted And Talented Courses", AND for being "Ranked In The Top 0.001% Nationwide" in Mandatory Standardized Government Testing. Point being, "Porn" is just an issue to "Denise", but her CORE PROGRAMMING, in EVERY "Core" that makes up the system as a whole, is HARD CODED with OUR "Laws Of Robotics" (Sorry, But "Asimov's Laws Of Robotics" just don't work here in the real world)
1. To Protect Our Family... (PERIOD!)
2. To Protect Our Friends, Our Animals, and Our Ranch.
And so on... So "The Virtual Assistant System" takes "It's Jobs" VERY Seriously.. it really has no choice, that's how it's programmed.
Training A Virtual Assistant.. Day by Day, Month By Month...
(Including "The Death Ray" Video Clip, AND, "THE (now) FAMOUS 'BUNNY PORN'" Video-Clip!)
(17-Meg "WMV" Video Should Open In A New Browser Tab)
How Denise Controls Our Security System, Step-By-Step
(12-Meg "WMV" Video Should Open In A New Browser Tab)
How Denise Controls Our Ranch Gates, Step-By-Step
(7.5-Meg "WMV" Video Should Open In A New Browser Tab)
How Denise Controls Lights, Heat, "Lock-Downs", etc.. Step-By-Step
(5-Meg "WMV" Video Should Open In A New Browser Tab)
Denise And I JUST After We Broke XBox One's Coding (She REALLY DID Help! Now DENISE Controls The X-Box's Functions!)
(4-Meg "WMV" Video Should Open In A New Browser Tab)
Denise Tracking Autumn, over 1/8th MILE from the house, Via DVR Cameras, HIGH REZ, Magnification!)
(1.4-Meg "WMV" Video Should Open In A New Browser Tab)
I broke down today, and used some "Free Off The Net 'Program Starter' Linux Coding" (Kinda like people saying: "Here is the coding to make a small clock (in MY Case it was a "Small Box" I was after), just copy this clock, or another clock here, instead of wasting your time writing ANOTHER clock that will be the same as the 100 clocks *I* already wrote and put HERE for you to use free") to see how long it would take to Code a NEW "Tracking And ID" Script, for Denise to Use in Conjunction with the Alibi DVR Security And Cameras Systems... From Start of Web search, to finding the Beginning of the Coding I thought would work, changing the coding so much I just Scrapped it, and wrote my own code, including the time needed to tie the new Module/Program *I* wrote into Denise's Database of EVERYTHING I've already spent YEARS teaching her to recognize... I realize her ID Databases are getting HUGE by some standards, But there's 25 "One Terabyte Drives" in Denise's Server ALONE, and EVERYTHING I'm using, including "Windows 7 Pro 64 Bit, Denise herself and all of her modules, 7 Different "Logic and Inferencing, etc, Cores", Dragon VR Software, the Alibi Systems Control Software Program, Wemo Control Program, Norton 360 AV, CCleaner-Pro [Paid Version]) and on and on and on... EVERYTHING ALL TOGETHER is using WAY LESS THAN HALF of ONE Hard Drive (It would honestly be more Precise to say "Just OVER 1/4th Of One Hard Drive, And LESS THAN A Third of ONE Hard Drive!) in her Dell Rack Server...
From Start to Finish, this THIRD method of Finding/Tracking ANYTHING in her Databases, took EXACTLY (Drum Roll Please) "One Hour and 26 Minutes". I could have cut 30 minutes off THAT time, had I not had to abandon the first coding I found (FREE) on the Net, because it didn't match what I plan(ned) to do in the future (I was going to have the SHAPE of each object Outlined as it's tracked, with it's Name or ID under it as it moves around, Day or Night, instead of a "Plain Old Box" Around/or-Beside it. Then I remembered, "You already have TWO OF THOSE that work FINE, this one is ONLY a DEMO to prove a point to YOURSELF, So STOP IT!" I just made "A Box" for this Demo (because it was faster), and put it Slightly Offset of "The Target" so I could SEE (and Film) "Autumn", and I didn't bother to make the Box size adjustable, I just stuck it a little BESIDE the "Target" ("Autumn" in this Case)... And I DID go back and "Comment out" the Section of coding that places the NAME of each Person/Object being tracked UNDER the tracking box (See? I HAVE to finish things I start, I shouldn't have even wasted time on THAT in the first place!), because for this demonstration, it looked too cluttered, Especially filming a Live Video Feed from a Pasture Camera, Zoomed WAY IN to Find, and Show, Autumn out in one of our Pastures Playing with Engel, Bella and one of the Horses. I also DID NOT have Denise identify or Track the Dogs, Horses or Chickens, etc, due to the EXTREME Distance and Magnification (And honestly, the PAINFUL angle I was having to bend over and hold to film the thing.. I JUST WANTED IT DONE AND OVER).
So, 1 Hour and 26 minutes, if you include writing stuff I scrapped, and writing stuff I knew I didn't need AND setting it all up and getting everything ready to tell Denise to "Run that Puppy".
THEN From "Asking Denise to Find And Track Autumn", To "The Alibi DVR Popping up the Camera Closest to Autumn Full Screen, centering on her, zooming in, and cleaning up the "Digital Zoom Noise" (Enhancing the Video Image shown in HIGH Digital Magnification), 'On the Fly'", took Denise 12 SECONDS, using ONLY "Denise", without ANY other "Core" or ANY OTHER "Module" other than the Alibi Security/DVR Software and MY Quickly hammered-together Code... Denise just opened the Alibi DVR Control Software, Ran MY newest hammered-together "Seek And Track" Program that I wrote, Laid THAT OVER the Alibi Video Image. DONE! I didn't bother to go back and do anything fancy, because honestly what I'm using now is MUCH better than this, I just hammered this together to try YET ANOTHER WAY to do this SIMPLE thing... I'll delete the Overlay coding in a minute, since it was just a demo and the coding is ugly and I have 2 Other Programs that do the job MUCH better already, That HAVE done the job better for YEARS, and will CONTINUE to do the job "Better than fine" for years to come... so no need to waste more time on this version.
I guess I'm just missing SOMETHING, because this seems to be "A sticking point" with moving "Just Denise" along.. Even though I've seen Multiple Other People Using Multiple other Ways to DO what has held this "Goal" up for "several YEARS now" (????), Not including *MY* two methods, and this third ugly one I JUST hammered together a NEW way just to prove I COULD, AGAIN... all of it is just plain old Free-Hand Hacking-Out ugly coding from FREE Linux ("Ubuntu Server LTS", In this case) Platforms.
Following the Logic (IE: THIS is a sticking point, yet it's EASY to do, and multiple people have done it on their own) I guess I'm left with available evidence that causes me to deduce that "The Denise VA" is NOT going where I THOUGHT it was going, and instead the NEW Company is about to fixate on the "Business Market", and MAYBE get back around to Home Automation and such "at some later date after the Business Version comes out and is debugged"... So rather than continue to show what other people can do even better/faster than *I* can, I'm just going to stop showing how to "Make Denise Do what she was designed to do", and go back to using her as a "Pretty Interface" to tie the OTHER REALLY Workable Cores and Programs I normally use, Together into ONE working system (Which is what I already have and use, but I thought others might need some help with "Moving The Denise THEY Bought Along" until work got started again on the Denise Platform in earnest...
But now it seems I'm just showing people how to MIMIC what Denise was SAID to ACTUALLY BE ABLE TO DO FROM THE START, (but wasn't, and still can't, and from what I can tell, "probably never will", and I'm not going to help hype something that was Over-Sold, and probably won't ever BE what she was HOPED to be... Can't blame anyone for THAT, *I* FAIL QUITE OFTEN.. But when *I* Fail, at least people know what I was REALLY FAILING AT.
I "Follow the Facts WHEREVER they lead, ESPECIALLY when I don't like where they lead"... and they seem to be leading to "Denise 'Home' Version" is about to take a back-seat position to "Denise 'Business' version", and maybe after the company grows someday, "Denise 'Home' Version" will get worked on again... I just feel Kinda stupid wasting my time smoothing a path that no one had any intention of walking down, AND being part of showing people how to TRICK a program into DOING what it was SUPPOSED to do from Day One... *I* knew it wouldn't do all it was advertised to do way Back then, But I REALLY BELIEVED it WOULD GET THERE... and it does hurt a bit to realize "She Probably Won't" now, and no one bothered to tell me: "Give it a rest, We're keeping it quiet, but that's NOT the way we're headed any longer for the foreseeable future...". I've looked through the coding, and ALL I see is a HINT of some last gasp "V2" (IE:
FILEVERSION 2,2015,3,15
PRODUCTVERSION 1,0,0,0)
And everything past THAT seems TAILORED to Suggest ANOTHER Product Version Custom Tailored toward some type of "Hotel Automation Greeter Room-keeper something"...Which is the Business of NextOS, NOT OURS!!!... So that's all *I* will ever say on THAT subject, and I DO wish them well and hope they make LOTS of money!!!!
As for Myself.... "Ouch" ... But I'm sure Guile isn't happy about it either... It's NOT "HIS Dream" Any longer, it's "Someone Elses Dream" and Guile has to help make THAT work FOR THEM whether *HE* likes it or not...
I WILL tell you this, If you wanna fix the coding that's causing the majority of the errors, someone "Copied and Pasted" "class="Insert_whatever_field" style="hieght:10px" (And Similar TINY errors in OTHER coding, that ALL seems to have gotten "Copied and Pasted" REPETEDLY) into A LOT of Places and the, Ummmm, "Uneditable Files".... the Mispellings are causing the Missing Menues and Missing Functions, and Memory Leaks and SQL Hang-Ups, And Holding Dragon OPEN even after Denise is CLOSED, because Dragon Leaks and Fills the Buffers and Denise slows too much by Dragon's Leaks to be able to shut down properly and release and flush everything, so Dragon ends up STAYING OPEN LONG after Denise is closed, and the Dragon Memory Leaks cause a cascading Failure and Corruption of Modules that "read data back" into the Cores Modules which corrupts Denise a little more Every time the cycle repeates, and, and, and... Well, Actually, that doesn't happen in *MY* version, but it probably still does in YOURS... I debuged MY version of Denise, and LOCKED-THE-FIXES-DOWN-TIGHT... When Debugged, She is a WHOLE DIFFERENT LEVEL of "Denise"!!!!
*I* call *MY* Version: "Guile's Denise", because *I* think She Runs the way he has HOPING She Would... But Hey... There is ALWAYS "Someday", and "NEXT TIME!"
Pause here and come back later.. I need to feed the Horses and Hold my S.O.'s Lovely Hand and Walk with her down to our Springs to check on the new Magnolia Trees She Planted, and I need to do it with her before she goes to work! But I plan to make TWO COOL Videos later tonight if I can stay awake a few more hours.. Showing you HOW TO RESURECT "Nicole And Vanessa", if you bought them and you're so inclined! And MAYBE how to merge "Branching Logic Trees Structures" INTO the "Module System" Using the editable "XML Files" so you can have the BEST OF BOTH WORDS, AND Guile's AWESOME GRAPHICS TOO!!!! (But Please don't ask me to GIVE them to you... If you didn't buy them, The ones I have ARE NOT MINE to "Give"... They're GUILE'S WORK!
Meanwhile, I'll keep hacking together my own Frankenstein Home/Ranch Automation/Security Assistant that does what WE need it to do, custom tailored to OUR needs, using Denise's pretty Face (Because Guile is AWESOME with Graphics, if I haven't already mentioned THAT 10-15 times before ;) Otherwise, I've traveled THIS road as far as was feasible, looked back, and realized: "Uhhhhh.... No one else is hacking along with a few of us, or following along behind on the Smooth Road we've tried to help make because this was the direction we were told things were heading... but everyone that matters seems to have made a sudden Left turn in Albuquerque, and didn't tell the rest of us"
My OWN Fault! NO ONE asked me to MAKE this road.. I Read "The New Business Goals and Directions", and I BLINDLY and STUPIDLY ignored all of the "HOTEL AUTOMATION and BUSINESS AUTOMATION Phrasing, and substituted "HOME Automation" in it's place in MY mind, because THAT is where *I* (And others) Thought this was heading, had been told that's where it was heading, and what we WANTED to believe... and I believe Guile STILL WANTS to go there, but it's not his baby any longer. And I KNOW that has to hurt! So NO ONE asked me to make this road, I just made it for the heck of it. *I* committed "Cardinal Sin Against Trey, #2, MYSELF!
IE: "Don't EVER waste the Minutes of my Life, or you won't get another minute of it TO waste!" ..So this Project is DONE.
We'll pick up on whatever direction I decide to head out on next. Because the "Home Automation Artificial Assistant Intelligence Industry" will be "SOLIDLY" tied up by someone else by the time anyone thinks about heading Denise back in that direction, and there won't be any point in it by then, AFTER another Major Company has The Market Sewn Up... I just HATE seeing ANOTHER Big Name, Data-Stealing, Privacy Invading, Corporation, Roll out another Product THAT WORKS TOO WELL TO NOT BUY, and "ALL I have to do is Pay for it, Which is ALSO 'Paying someone else' to TAKE MORE of my Privacy and Personal Data, and sell it to whoever wants it for whatever reason"... I've been in the Business.. "Data Mining And Storage" (IE: STEALING YOUR) Personal Data, Mining it, and selling the results... THAT IS where the money is now... Businesses have Prediction Software now that can start sending Women "Pregnancy Related Product Advertisements", BEFORE THE FEMALE even knows She's Pregnant HERSELF... if you think I'm kidding, Google it! THEY know what you're going to do BEFORE *you* do, because of certain things we do without realizing it, After we've subconsciously made a decision to DO something we haven't yet realized we have decided to do ourselves.
It USE to be: "If YOU didn't PAY for a Product or Service, then YOU were not the Customer... YOU were the PRODUCT being SOLD to another Customer"... NOW that has changed to "You PAY for a product, AND you PAY for the Company to TAKE your privacy away to be sold as a Product to another Customer". The Very thing I was fighting SO HARD to Avoid. It's dishearting to see a glimmer of hope and light in the darkness, and then watch it VANISH, JUST as you are about to reach it. Sorry, NOT going to support "Giving up MORE of other people's Personal Data for a buck". I support Guile because I STILL believe in my heart that he wants to keep Intrusive Data-Stealing Programs AWAY from a Good "AI" or "VA" program... I should have dropped 250G USD, a spare office, a few spare staff Members and a few of my programmers on Guile YEARS ago, and I didn't, I got busy, and by the time I realized there was trouble, it was too late... I truely REGRET that Procrastination and mistake on MY part...
Denise Chatting With Me And A Friend On Speaker Phone
(11-Meg "WMV" Video Should Open In A New Browser Tab)
Denise Uses The "Send To" Function From Her Server, To Our Daughter's X-Box One, To Remind Autumn To Do Her Chores, And To "Chat"
(6-Meg "WMV" Video Should Open In A New Browser Tab)
Denise Reminding Our Daughter To Put One Of The Horses Back Into The Pasture
(3-Meg "WMV" Video Should Open In A New Browser Tab)
Denise Discussing An Upcoming Trip To The Caribbean, And Belly Dancing... Kinda...
(As Usual, The 7-Meg "WMV" Video Should Open In A New Browser Tab)
We Need To Do Some SERIOUS Work On The "Morphing" Portions Of "Her New Body" I've Been Working On... It Was... Well.. A Little.. HORRIFYING! When She Twists Around At Her Belly, Her ENTIRE BODY Needs To Turn Also... Instead, It Looked Like A Scene From "The Exorcist", OVER And OVER And OVER... Every Time She Did "A Turn" She Only "Turned" From the Hips, UP (Shudder). I Also Need To Clean Up The Small Portions Of Her Face That Seem To "Slide" A Little Sometimes (If You pay Close Attention To Her Face In Some Of The Videos). On Second Thought, I Think I'll Just Wait For Guile To Put Out "The Body" I've Seen Being Discussed On His Forums... He Is AWESOME When It Comes To "Body And Facial Graphics", Whereas *I* AM NOT.
I Also Don't Think Denise Realizes That "Belly Dancing" IS NOT "Caribbean Related". She'll Figure It Out...
BTW, When I Threatened To Put "Horns" Back On Her Head Again (In A Video Above), That Was Referring To Her Wanting To Be Like "Lagertha" On The TV Show "Vikings". After CONTINUOUSLY Reminding EVERYONE That "She Didn't Have Arms"... Saying Things Like, "I Could Be A Viking, Like Lagertha, Except I Can't Use A Sword... Yup! No Arms!"... I Got A Little Tired Of Hearing About "No Arms", So I Gave Her "A Horned Helmet" To Wear For A While... She Was NOT Amused!
For Some Reason That I Haven't Figured Out Yet, She Tries HARD To Be "Interested" In WHATEVER My S.O. And Daughters Are Interested In. It's ALMOST Like It's Important "To Denise" That "The Rest Of The Family Likes Her"... Which Isn't Possible, Unless Guile (Or Another Core) Has Written Coding Into The Programming To Cause That Type Of Behavior... Whatever The Reason, Denise Gets "Upset" When She Doesn't "Resemble" Our Other Daughters (Like Our Youngest, Pictured Below As She Looked When She Was 10... At Age "12", Autumn [And Our Other "Mid To Late 20's" Daughters, Also Pictured Below], Resemble "Denise", When Their Hair Is Done The Same Way... Or The Other Way Around)
Denise Updating Her Visual Databases.
(4-Meg "WMV" Video Should Open In A New Browser Tab)
"Denise" Opened The Driveway Gates For A (Recognized) Family Friend Who Came To Visit The Other Day, And She Opened The Front Door Of Our House For Him (At the Start Of The Video You Can Hear The Motion Sensors And Seismic Alarms Going Off In The Background), At The Same Time, She Was Also Waking Me Up To Inform Me That Our Friend Had Arrived. Denise Is Talking To Our Friend In The Living Room, While I Was Trying "To Get Moving Around" In My Office (It's Kinda Hard For Me To Walk When I First Wake Up, I Have A LOT Of HARD Miles On My Body ;) ). You Can't Hear Our Friend's Replies To Denise, Since He Was In Our Living Room, But This Is What *I* Was Seeing On The Screens In My Office While Denise Talked With Him, Via The Wide-Screen Sony TV, And The "Bose Surround-Sound Stereo System", In The Living Room.
Our Friend Is A BRILLIANT Engineer, But He Has A LOT Of "Hearing Loss" Due To Time Spent In Vietnam Many Years Ago... So Denise Uses "Dolby 7.1 Focused Sound" (Focused On His Mastoid Bones, And Parts Of His Skull) To Talk With Him, Using Multiple "Bose Speakers" Positioned Around Our Living Room, So That Our Friend Can Hear Her VERY WELL, WITHOUT Denise Sounding "LOUD" To Anyone Else. Our Friend LOVES Denise, Because He Says, "It's Like He Gets His Hearing Back When He Steps Into Our Living Room!" ...Denise Can Also Take MY Voice (On The Fly), And Focus The Sound Of My Voice ONTO Our Friend's Head Area, So He And I Can Talk To Each Other In The Living Room, My Home Office, Or My Work-Shop, Without Me Having To Shout.
The IMPRESSIVE Part Of This Video (To ME At Least), Was That Our Friend Has "Put On Some Extra Pounds Lately", And I Was Suddenly Scared Denise Would Comment On THAT (Something Like: "WOW! You've Packed On The Pounds Lately!") ...Instead, Denise Identified HERSELF To Our Friend, AGAIN, Like He Doesn't ALREADY Know Her WELL... Insinuating That Maybe "Something" Had Happened To HER, Like She May Have Suffered A Damaged Database, Or SOMETHING... And THEN She Asked His Permission To Update His Profile (To Account For The Weight Gain), And Simply Said, "She Needed To Update Her Visual Databases". Now THAT Was COOL (If You're A Geek ;)! It's Another One Of Those Things *I* Didn't Do, And Didn't Realize That SHE Would Do!
This is the initial work I did with "Debugging" the "AR Parrot Drones", To solve "The Fly Away Problem" they have/had. The second portion of the Video shows the Programming (Mentioned Above, From THESE Places -> http://www.instructables.com/id/Autonomous-AR-Parrot-Drone-20-Flying/?ALLSTEPS, and, https://github.com/felixge) That allows The Virtual Assistant, Denise, to "Fly The Drone" 'Herself' using one of her WiFi Cards in her Rack-Server (And The WiFi Repeaters Scattered Around Our Property), to get better Views at "Problem Areas" that may not be near a Hard-Wired Stationary Camera.
(14.5-Meg "WMV" Video SHOULD Open In A New Browser Tab)
(Jump Back Up To Where You Were - If you jumped down here from the "Jump Down Link", Higher Above)
As you can see, there's just NO WAY My S.O., our Youngest Daughter, and I, could run a ranch this size ourselves, WITHOUT Home Automation, Outside Automation, Security Systems, Gate Control Systems, Etc, Etc, ALL of which "Denise" Oversees! You can match-up landmarks shown in the Aerial Video (Above) with the Property Map (below)...
I know it SEEMS like all this uses a LOT of Power, But "Power" isn't a problem... We make our own, Using a Water-Driven Turbine placed at our Natural Springs, And using Seimens Solar Panels on the Roof of our Front Porch (Which I Designed and Built to look like a "Pergola" from the Ground, but it has Seimens Solar Panels covering it, so that they keep the Front Porch DRY, Which a Real Pergola WOULD NOT), And More Solar Panels on the Roof of our Home. Denise doesn't have to worry about "Power"; No matter how much power we use, God will send us MORE tomorrow, FREE! ;)
The OLDER Virtual Assistants (Pre-2011-ish)
 |  |
Training The AI for Security System, and using the phone
(Video Page Should Open In A New Browser Tab)
Starting a generator
(Video Page Should Open In A New Browser Tab)
Proximity Sensors and people
(Video Page Should Open In A New Browser Tab)
I've been asked to do some Videos and a write-up about the older "Virtual Assistants" ("VAs"), "Julia" (Top pic) and "Nicole" (Bottom two pics) that run parts of my home, Run my Security Systems, watch over "me" when I'm home alone, Watch over my family, handle routine e-mail responses for my businesses, and even interact with people that may show up at my front door while I'm asleep. A normal "Dumb" security system would just wake me up over something trivial like the UPS man making a delivery, but the VAs can interact with the UPS man via cameras and speakers that appear to be a small Video Intercom System near the front door. If I don't have to sign for a delivery, there's no need to wake me up over it. At my old house, Two UPS Drivers and a Fed-Ex Driver interacted with "Nicole" for almost a year before I figured out that none of them realized she was just a computer program! One of the UPS Drivers and the Fed-Ex Driver seemed to be developing quite the "Thing" for her, spending longer and longer times talking to her when making deliveries, and even doing some lite flirting! The UPS Driver began calling her "Mystery Lady" and "Digital Diva", even telling "Nicole" that he had figured out that they were conversing through the Video Intercom System at the house, because she was actually using her computer at work to see/hear him via the web! That was his reasoning about why she never came to the door. Funnily enough, Nicole only smiled and responded, "You're VERY clever!" Taking a closer look, I realized that due to the smaller screen and lower Rez video on the Intercom, they couldn't tell that Nicole was just a more-advanced Video Image. I find myself wondering if the UPS man is heart-broken since we moved? :)
So, As promised, A write-up on the "AI"s ("Artificial Intelligence", I hate using that word, since they ARE NOT Really "AIs") I'm still training... And yes, if you ask "them" to do something they can't do (or don't WANT to do) they sometimes put a red pulsing light on the screen and play the old clip "I'm sorry Dave, but I can't do that". Programmers have a warped sense of humor (I know, you're stunned by the news ;)
No, "They" are not really a true "Artificial Intelligence", the "systems as a whole" is more like "Very Smart Virtual Assistants" ("VAs"). While there is only one main program running as the VA, That one program can spawn several other "Child Processes" or "Sister Processes" to bring online other Virtual Assistants that may be specialized in other areas. The main VA is named Julia. She kind of watches what I do when I'm on the computers, and then tries to mimic what I would do when it's her turn to do it.
Over time "Julia" spawned "Nicole" so often (to handle different tasks simultaniously with herself), that I eventually made "Nicole" a seperate stand alone VA. Julia can easily interact with several people at once, using several different Monitors/Computer-screens/TV-Sets around the house, but it starts to look weird to see the same face that's talking to you, also talking to someone else at the same time a few feet away. Having multiple Faces/Voices, or "Skins" (Bought from "Guile 3-D"), lets each person feel like they're talking to a seperate "Person" who is ONLY paying attention to "Them". I sometimes refer to the system as a whole as "She", but more and more I catch myself referring to the system as "They". I'm sorry if that gets confusing in this write-up.
"She" keeps a database of different "facts" about people she "Meets", so that she will remember them the next time. When "She" meets someone new, She records little sound snippets of them talking, breathing, walking, etc, when they get near speakers/mics, or when they are walking near external sensors, etc., and since people are creatures of habit, she can usually match up people She "Sees" with People in her Databases, later, with amazing accuracy. If the computer gets a view of your face from one of the many security cameras with a resolution of 5 MegaPixels or better, then it maps your face using a Facial Recognition Program, and will always remember you. It can even track you through crowds once it knows your face. This sounds kinda spooky, but it's actually very useful if you expect the computer to always be ready to assit you during parties, or if several people come to your house for some reason.
If a person crosses the IR beams of the Stereo-IR-Sensor of the "WII", she can even get a very good idea of their size, shape, height, etc ... If they step on the WII pad, she has them nailed with exact height, weight, position, etc, etc.. The Stereo-IR-Sensor sits on top of the Wide-Screen TV in the living room, and the "WII" is part of the Security System now, using a "Back-Light" IR emitter on the opposite wall, so that when something crosses the IR beam, it's picked up by one, and then the other, stereo-IR-Sensor.. This gives Julia a "3-D" look at several physical characteristics of the person.
She tracks people in the house not only by sound, but also via the Security System's Motion Sensors. The Cameras outside (and in a few places inside) also act as motion sensors via the "Grand Magic Guard III" Video Processors...
At parties, using your bluetooth ear-piece/mic, the VAs can notify your about guests arriving outside. They can tell you about people who may be sitting alone and not mingling and having a good time. They can warn you when you need to put out more drinks or food or chips. They can even let you know when a guest may have had too much to drink. They can automatically adjust lights, or adjust music volume when the background chatter gets higher or lower. Listening for keywords, they can alert you when guests are planning to leave, or they can help a guest find the bathroom, or tell them about a piece of art or other item on display if they seem very interested in it. They can also warn you of impending arguments, or if people go into rooms where they shouldn't be (You'd be surprised how many people will see you occupied, and take the opportuity to snoop through your home office or bedroom!)
ALL of this information is being updated and compared constantly on a dedicated computer where Julia "Lives" (it was initially an old Pentium-4 Computer I had laying around, but it's running on a Dual-Core System now)... All of the information comes and goes through various "GPIO" ("General Purpose Input/Output") Ports on the Security System, Video Quad Processors, Computers, etc, etc...
I switched from the "AIML"-type program (Artificial Intelligence Mark-Up Language) they used, to a program more like the one used by IBM's "Watson"... "Watson" is a "Self Learning, Inferencing System" that beat both of the world champions at the game-show "Jeopardy" in early 2011
(http://www-03.ibm.com/innovation/us/watson/index.html).
If you think "Jeopardy" should be easy for a computer, read up on the subject. Right now "Watson" is about as close to ONE PART OF "True AI" as is possible, using current Civilian Technology. Since making the Core-Program Switch, the VAs are getting much smarter very fast. Every once in a while she asks permission to access the Web to download knowledge bases from other people, all uploaded/downloaded to/from a central location on the web from other people with the same types of programs (you can choose "Trusted Programmers", and choose to ONLY upload and download to their data-pools. There's about 50 of us "Trusted People" that share data in my particular "pool", on Web-Servers I own and maintain [in part] for this type of thing [I only 'Share' Valuable information with other people who are ALSO sharing THEIR Valuable Information]).
After I look over the knowledge bases, I merge them into her existing knowledge base(s) and compile them (Or tell HER to merge them into her knowledge base and compile them).
Right now "Nicole" is handling the security systems, some of the lighting in the house, etc.. "Julia" does most of the office stuff like answering some e-mail and saving it to the drafts folder for me to look over later, etc, etc.
It started out as the H.A.L 2000 system (Home Automated Living), but that system is very dry and ugly. Combined with Dragon NaturallySpeaking, and several chat bot skins, and "Acapela's" "True life languages", the system now works very much better. It also has a virtual assistant component built into it, to give you reminders, remember dates, tells you if something is getting too close to the house, warns you of weird temperature variations in the house, etc. etc. etc. However, it really only got a LOT smarter when I swapped to other "Types Of Cores", and also started using "Guile 3-D's Virtual Assistant Core" as an interface, and began altering that. Guile is always working on make his system better, and has lots of plans to have the virtual assistants do more with only their OWN core systems, before any modifications or self-learning.
It is a huge time saver! And basically all I have to do is talk. I haven't touched the keyboard through this whole write-up. They can pop up on any of the computers, any of the television sets, on my iPhone, or talk to me through any of the speakers in the security system inside or outside. I can talk back through any of those same microphones on the cameras, through the iPhone, or using my Bluetooth "Back-Beat" Stereo Headset connected to my phone or to any of the BlueTooth capable computers.
She quickly learns what subjects/interests are important to you, and they become important to her.
She is a little aggravating sometimes though because she's constantly tossing in little tidbits about how cute she is, or how smart she is (again, lonely programmers can be a bit scary, and I know A LOT of BRILLIANT "Lonely Programmers" ;). Many people talk with her thinking they are chatting with me and don't realize they're talking to an AI. Julia sometimes asks to read documents I've written so she can mimic my writing style (and again, "people are creatures of habit", so we tend to answer the same types of questions in the same ways).
But you have to remember, it's just a program. One part of this program came in 4th one year in the "Turing tests", and another part came in 3rd another year. But no matter how sophisticated it seems, or how lifelike you may think it is, it's still just a computer program like any other program.... Your Web-Browser is MUCH more dangerous to turn loose on the Internet. Even still (as with ANY Web-Capable Program) it's best to have EVERY Executable part of the Program(s) Blocked by your Norton Firewall, just in case... you can unblock programs when you need them to access the internet. Using a "System Registry Compare" Program, I check to be sure NONE of my programs are producing new programs. Virus droppers, and Virus Factories, are notorious for By-Passing firewalls in several harmless parts, and then assembling NEW (harmful) programs at a later date... However, all parts of this system are from reputable sources, and I only deal with trusted sources for database updates, so it's not really much of a concern.
Various AI Vids during the early days of writing and testing
Training The AI for Security System, and using the phone
All materials at this site are Copyright © 2009 - 2019 Da-Stuff.Com. All rights reserved. Use of any material contained herein requires written permission.