Orcus SmartHome
- Home Automation - Home Security - Multimedia Entertainment -
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Status
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Welcome to Orcus
04/16 15:21 --
Instructions uploaded to Sourceforge.
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To do:
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In no particular order as of yet:
Software
- Integrate with Freevo.
For the multimedia frontend. Possibly use Freevo's widgets to control Orcus home automation.
- Use Ming to create flash enabled web control pages.
This is for both visual appeal and more natural interactivity with the system.
- Add interactive floorplans.
To see what alarms are triggered, which windows/doors are open/closed, which rooms are occupied and by whom.
Also will have integrated security camera feeds superimposed on the room's floorplan.
- Possibly use Pygame to create a stand-alone frontend.
Maybe, if the web interface is insufficient for complete natural configuration and control.
- Integrate with motion to respond to visual clues when motion is detected on security cameras.
Respond to hand gestures to dim lights, raise media volume, etc.
- Add face recognition and motion tracking for security cameras.
Display and track who's in which room?, where's the dog?, are the kids near the swimming pool?, etc.
- Integrate Caddx NX8E alarm panel control and monitoring.
To use its sensors and automate alarms.
- Possibly add Snort/Sourcefire, Squid Web Proxy, and other tools.
To fully integrate the physical security and the information security under one system.
- Add Axis camera controls.
To allow Orcus to choose resolutions, brightness, color settings, IP address, and reset the camera if the feed dies.
Hardware
- Make a low cost wireless (Bluetooth) speaker and microphone combo unit that can be placed in every room.
This is for the voice recognition/speech synthesis interface with Orcus. It may be integrated with some remote control buttons.
- Client media boxes.
Each room with media will have a small ethernet enabled box that will play streamed music, videos, security camera
feeds, live television, online media, etc. Several choices should be available from a simple audio player (like the Squeezebox
to a full streaming video player with DVD. Plan on using Freevo for this.
- Yes, a robot!
For mobile remote viewing, and serving drinks at parties. (Actually just because every automated home should have a cool looking robot!)
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OControl Center
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Automation
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Security
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Entertainment
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Climate Control
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Alarm System
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Streaming Movies & Music
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Lighting Control
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Cameras
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Pictures
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System Scheduling Calendar
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Orcus is currently
under development and not for the faint of heart. It's currently
posted on Sourceforge for my friends who have asked for it. Sorry, I
have not cleaned it up yet for the masses.
If you would like to
contribute to its development, please let me know using the contact
information found on Sourceforge for this project.
What is Orcus?
Orcus smartHome is a voice/sensor/web-interactive home automation,
streaming media, security monitoring system with voice recognition,
speech synthesis, scheduling via Google calendar, and web interface.
How does Orcus work?
Like its
inspirations, many of the features that Orcus has (or will have!)
come from existing programs. Orcus just ties them together in a
hopefully consistent and intuitive way. I've tried to use only
freely available programs. A current list of those
programs is listed in the instructions.
Why make another
home automation program?
There
are many home automation programs out there right now, but Orcus was
chiefly inspired by PlutoHome and Misterhouse. Although
Plutohome and Misterhouse are very cool programs and already
open-source, there were some features that I wanted and others that I
didn't, so I decided to write my own. Security, both information and
physical, was my main concern. Plutohome had some weaknesses that
made me uncomfortable in having it control my house.
Where is Orcus?
Currently, Orcus is available for developers via CVS and kindly hosted
by Sourceforge. If you would like to start using Orcus, feel free
to download
it using CVS. For now, Orcus is not ready for mass use and I
don't want to get questions asking why something went wrong.
When is Orcus ready
for mass use?
This depends on how much time I have to dedicate to Orcus and if anyone
else decides to contribute.
There
are many
things in Orcus that will be changed as time permits. At this time,
my goal for Orcus is to get it up and running with the basic
features one can expect of a home automation system, and some extra
features that I would like to have in such a system.
What
OS can it run in?
Orcus
can run on any platform that uses Python. It is designed and tested
on both Windows XP and Linux. Some features may not be available
depending on the platform. In the future, this may change depending
on the applications that are available on each platform.
Why use Python?
Well, a few reasons. First, Python is a language that I
wanted to learn and writing an application like this has helped
me tremendously. Second, Python has many of the features that I would
like to take advantage of for future versions of Orcus. Lastly,
well...Plutohome is written in Ruby, Misterhouse is written in Perl. I
thought it was time for Python to have a home automation suite.
Who is Orcus?
Answer.
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HowTos
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Google Calendar
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X10 Devices
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Axis Security Cameras
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Edna Streaming Server
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