Re: My latest cool DIY automation idea

["Robert Green" <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx>]

"IVB" <ivb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

<stuff snipped>

> I'm going to setup CQC & the Elk to turn off speakers and lighting(future)
> if there's been no motion in a room for 5 minutes. The design looks like
it
> would be trivial

It's about as trivial as a three body gravitional problem.  <g>

The basic problem is most sensors will not see a person sitting quietly in a
chair as motion and they'll turn things off.  It's called the automation
"wave" because people then sit there flapping their arms to get whatever the
MD shut off to come back on.

Figuring out who's where and doing what in a house, short of making everyone
wear transponders, is very tough business.  For starters, you need rules
like:

If HALL MD NOT TRIPPED AND LR MD NOT TRIPPED
(it's likely no one left the LR even though there's been no motion detected
for 5 minutes otherwise they would have tripped the hallway MD on their way
out!)
THEN DON'T TURN OUT THE DAMN LIGHTS!  :-)

A system at least has to be smart enough to "realize" if you didn't trip any
sensors outside the room, you probably haven't left it no matter what the
timer and PIR "thinks."

I can't think of anything with a lower spousal approval factor than a
Robohome brain turning off the lights or sound because someone was sitting
quietly minding their own business.

The perfect solution would probably encompass microwave detectors, RFID
sensors, IR beams, PIRs, pressure mats, 1000+ lines of code and a fast CPU
to figure out where people *really* are in a house.  Anything less is going
to get it wrong a lot of the time.  So much so that it becomes a serious
annoyance as people get used to flapping their wings like insane geese.

Ironically, I see some great parallels in game software design and occupancy
sensing.  You'll need variables for each "player" or occupant indicating
current positions and a set of rules governing how they can move from room
to room.  Sounds like fun.  I'd like my HA system to have a "God" mode.

--
Bobby G.