Robby The House

by Bob Seidel

In my last column I had an opportunity to talk about one of my favorite hobbies - digital photography. I will pick up that thread again in future columns. But this week I wanted to discuss another hobby - home automation. Lots of people know at least something about digital photography (at least that it exists!), but home automation is an unknown art to most people.

I remember back to the first Sci-Fi and horror movies of the late 50's when I grew up. Such classics as "This Island Earth", "It Came From Beneath The Sea", "Godzilla" - but most of all I remember "Forbidden Planet". This full color epic starred Leslie Nielsen (who went on to a career in cheap humor), Anne Francis (who never went on to much, as I recall), and Walter Pidgeon (who went on to voyage to the bottom of the sea). But, we all knew that the real star was Robby, The Robot.

Robby was unique among screen robots. He was a "good" robot (as opposed to Tobor from the "Captain Video" TV series, who just seemed content to squeeze people to death) and was the "father" of many good screen robots such as the unnamed robot from "Lost In Space" (yuck). Robby would putter around the house; making coffee, sewing, analyzing food, and doing his morning run of isotope 217. He was companion, guard, cook, and confessor rolled into one metal body. Ah, we all wished for a Robby in our homes, as our friend.

Now, given the 50 intervening years, you would think that somebody could invent one. Or, at least the automated houses envisioned in World Fairs in the 50's and 60's. Alas, no. But home automation of a sort does exist, and you can easily have it. Here's how.

Home Automation is very simply the control of household appliances by remote or automatic control. This control can be from handheld control units, automated through your computer, or via timers. I have found that there are three types of home automation users.

Basic home automation usually consists of controlling your house appliances and lights. You might have the bedroom stereo go off at a certain time each night. You might have your coffee pot come on in the morning at a certain time or you may just use the remote control to start the coffee when you want without getting out of bed. Outdoor lights are often a popular usage of this level of home automation, as is turning on the heat for your hot tub.

For advanced users, there are more possibilities. Using your computer, you may start that coffee pot at a different time in the morning depending on whether your spouse works that day or not. You might add motion detectors to turn on lights when you enter a room or to detect when a car pulls in the garage. You might use more advanced controllers to open the window shades depending on the timing of sunrise or sunset. Intrusion detection (burglar alarms) fit into this category.

Finally, there is total techno-geek level stuff. You can control all your audio/visual equipment. You can pipe music and video around the house. You can monitor your front door from your TV set. Voice input and response is possible ("Robby, turn on the TV" "Yes, Master!"). You can monitor the status of your house over the Internet. The possibilities are almost endless.

Getting into home automation is fairly easy. You can get the basic controls (called the X-10 system) at the local Radio Shack store. No wiring is necessary unless you want to control any lighting that has a wall switch - you will have to replace the switch itself.

The real significance of home automation here at the beach is that many of us have part time or weekend homes. Adding home automation can help prevent burglaries or mischief and can tell us when the heating system breaks down or someone enters the house. Look into it!

(Bob Seidel is a local computer consultant in the Southport / Oak Island area. You can visit his website at www.bobseidel.com or e-mail him at bsc@bobseidel.com).