Orcus SmartHome

- Home Automation - Home Security - Multimedia Entertainment -

Status
Welcome to Orcus

04/16 15:21 -- Instructions uploaded to Sourceforge.
To do:

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!)



O
Control Center
Automation Security Entertainment
    Climate Control
    Alarm System     Streaming Movies & Music
    Lighting Control     Cameras     Pictures
System Scheduling Calendar
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.

HowTos
    Google   Calendar
    X10 Devices
    Axis Security Cameras
    Edna Streaming Server