"Building Jarvis" – A very lofty but nevertheless interesting project in home automation →

I read this post out on a drive across the United States just after Christmas this year. Without ready access to a development machine or very reliable internet, I was yearning to read something about technology which would inspire me. This post, as much of a #humblebrag as it is, definitely fit the bill.

Mark Zuckerberg describes building a home automation system using Facebook’s AI technology – not to sell, but just as a pet project to keep up with the innovations in artifical intelligence. Lord only knows how this guy found time to learn and experiment with AI to the point that it could detect, recognize, and respond to a visitor at the door.

Owning a house is part of what makes home automation exciting to me (and I’m currently renting, womp) because you can drill, cut, install, etc. The house is yours to fiddle with – no landlord to turn around and fine you for hanging your pictures with nails. That being said, apartments can still be automated in less destructive ways: programmed lighting, home entertainment, and so on.

Phillips Hue bulbs are now on their way to my home. AI is definitely a weak point of mine and I’m wondering how I can utilize (ideally non-Internet-connected) devices to make my life a little more interesting. The lights I have are fine, but if I can learn along the way, why not? It would be a fun challenge to try to implement an AI that could learn my schedule and help me stay on task with my sleep, my diet, my exercise, and so forth.

Moreover, it is commonly observed that one is afraid of something one cannot understand. That feeds into the sentiment I hear around me of AI “taking over the world.” Perhaps if I can learn a bit more about it and implement it, then I can grasp a bit more the nuances of the situation and not immediately go full-luddite because of a lack of understanding.

Anyway, it is an interesting read with good links to Facebook’s various open source projects.