[Terry]

Hi. I think I should introduce myself. My name is Terry.

For some time I have been toying with the idea to build a virtual assistant application to make it easier
to do the most common task I do on my computer.

I "sort of" started the project with a friend but it never took of as at that time I didn't have much
time.

I was searching the internet to find if something like that has been done before and found this forum.
Read it a bit and really liked the community. Even though I am not looking to implement a real/full AI,
I though I could find some initial help here, and contribute where I have a knowledge myself.

So if you could point me to some web resources with the information on how to build the virtual assistant software
- I would appreciate it. What I mean by a "virtual assistant" is similar to Smart-I (http://smarti.wintog.com/)

Though my idea is to build a proactive "virtual assistant" who would not have to be told what to do as it learns
the habits and usage patterns and tries to repeats it. Well, sure I am talking about a very simple tasks here.

So if you could direct me to some web sites or posts on this forum which you think might be helpfull - please do.

Thank you.

Cheers.

[Freddy]

Hi Terry and welcome to the site 

I've got a few popular assistants that may inspire you.

BragiSoft
CallMom
Siri
UltraHal
Denise

These would give you a head start.  But if you are keen to build your very own system I am not sure where to start !  Do you know any programming languages and what are they ?  This may help others to help you.

[Art]

Welcome Terry.

Microsoft also has a Free Scripting Editor software that you could use to control your computer by means of Windows 7's voice recognition.

You compose the basic scripts and Windows waits and listens for certain commands, words or triggers to be uttered by you, then it acts upon them. There are quite a few examples of this that I'm sure could be found on say, YouTube or similar.

The built-in voice recognition allows me to practically do anything without touching the keyboard if desired as far as open Outlook, New, To Jon Smith, Blah...blah...Click Send, close window, etc., etc.
To build any semblance of intelligence one would then need to tailor his / her script to include certain phrases and subsequent actions for the computer to carry out. Dim bedroom lights, Play Aerosmith, Turn on porchlight, what's the outside temperature?, etc. These controlled items require certain hardware like Z-Wave, X-10, Insteon and the like and an associated controller. Again, those actions can readily be entered into your script. Building how the AI works as far as scheduling, pattern recognition, etc., would be up to you to design but there are many examples on (you guessed it...YouTube).

Explore around these parts and ask questions...you'll have a good time...or else! heh!!

PS - One final caution - I personally do not prefer any bots that "Live" on someone's server somewhere. I do not want my personal info, methods, techniques, etc., shared, intentionally or by accident. I'd rather have what I create live in my computer not somewhere else. Bot hosting might be fine for some but it's just NOT my cup of tea.

[Terry]

Hi Terry and welcome to the site 

I've got a few popular assistants that may inspire you.

BragiSoft
CallMom
Siri
UltraHal
Denise

Will read through the links above - should give me the idea of what a Virtual Assistant should be able to do.

Actually I found this link (probably following links from this forum):
http://www.answerdevices.com/index.php?/blog/1/entry-8-1000-questions-every-mobile-assistant-should-be-able-to-answer/

It has a list of questions from 30 categories which virtual/mobile assistant should be able to answer / handle.

This is how I plan to start my development - create a list of commands which my VA (short for Virtual Assistant) should handle/process
- it will likely to be different from the one for example Siri - as initially I plan my VA to be a software for a desktop PC (not for a phone as e.g. SIRI)
and then define the command semantics - e.g. command name and supported parameters ... e.g. where a command "open kindle" and parameter 1 is "read" and parameter 2 is "cloud atlas", etc.

Once the first 10 commands I defined - I will start thinking about software architecture - e.g. some sort of a hosting software which will always be running on my PC,
able to respond to user's input by invoking one of the 10 previously defined/registered commands. Will need to think thru how to implement chaining commands - e.g.
read (command 1) the latest email email from Gary and reply (command 2) to him with "I received your email, will reply to you today", add a calendar item (command 3) to
reply Gary withing 3 hours...  something like that.

I will go thorough the links first and ping pong the initial ideas with my friend first and publish them here, should there be any interest.

These would give you a head start.  But if you are keen to build your very own system I am not sure where to start !  Do you know any programming languages and what are they ?  This may help others to help you.

I program on C#/C++, some Javascript and a touch of Python. And can read most of the C-derived languages (Java,etc). Mostly on Windows.

Thank's a lot Freddy.

[Art]

You can also see if Chad Barraford's postings of Project Jarvis appeal to you:


Here is another Open Source possibility for you from Vaughn Rupp & Brian Woodworth:
http://www.opensourceautomation.com/

The mobile app, Siri was mentioned above but there is an app for the Android called, Iris. (backward siri) that
works pretty well. The problem with these is that it would require a SDK to allow modification for your purposes
and possible license infringements which you don't want to endure.

Someone recently said that a "Smart" home automation AI is one you DON'T need to talk to. It "knows" what it should do under certain conditions and who is home (car in driveway), who's birthday/anniversary etc., what the temperature is outside compared to the inside and how to adjust accordingly. It is aware of your actions and patterns within your environment and can make changes as things happen.

Sounds cool and a bit sci-fi but it IS very possible as this and more is already being done in a lot of my friend's homes and a part of mine.

[Freddy]

I program on C#/C++, some Javascript and a touch of Python. And can read most of the C-derived languages (Java,etc). Mostly on Windows.

I believe Bragi (Bragisoft) writes his code in C# - so maybe you two can bounce some ideas off each other.  I think you can include his neural network into a .NET project pretty easily.  Bragi is a member here and he will be able to give you a much more intelligent comment on that.

[Terry]

You can also see if Chad Barraford's postings of Project Jarvis appeal to you:

thanks for the link. actually answered one of my (unasked) questions about how to communicate with the VA.
it shows that Chad's system can take commands via remote control and twitter/sms/emails in addition to voice commands.
really liked the idea of remote control as I don't want to over-engineer the system at the beginning and thus would like
to avoid involving speech recognition/NLP (for "parsing" and extracting the meaning from the commands).

Here is another Open Source possibility for you from Vaughn Rupp & Brian Woodworth:
http://www.opensourceautomation.com/

thanks for the "home automation" link. will have a look.

The mobile app, Siri was mentioned above but there is an app for the Android called, Iris. (backward siri) that
works pretty well. The problem with these is that it would require a SDK to allow modification for your purposes
and possible license infringements which you don't want to endure.

well, I just want to try to implement a few ideas as a hobby, don't want to build anything commercial.
i suppose the general ideas is this - as long as I freely distribute my stuff the big companies will not chase/sue me,
because, well, they would not be able to get any compensation from me. but I am not a lawyer ;-) and thanks for warning.

Someone recently said that a "Smart" home automation AI is one you DON'T need to talk to. It "knows" what it should do under certain conditions and who is home (car in driveway), who's birthday/anniversary etc., what the temperature is outside compared to the inside and how to adjust accordingly. It is aware of your actions and patterns within your environment and can make changes as things happen.

Agree. The proactive system is better than a passive one, but I think (I am talking about automation in general here, not just smart home automation) it usually
easier to have a semi-proactive system which

a) presents a user with a set of choices re: next action based on the current environment
e.g. do you want to email Laura or text Laura. even though Laura respond much quickly to text messages,
user (I am) have to make a decision (in other words - to help the proactive system) to send the message by email because it is too big (e.g. includes screenshot)

b) asks user how to "chain" multiple actions by asking to manually specify the order of actions.
e.g. before it can print the chapter 20 of the book, i has to find the book first and open it in the word/pdf reader.

Sounds cool and a bit sci-fi but it IS very possible as this and more is already being done in a lot of my friend's homes and a part of mine.

[Art]

Terry,
Here are some links of which I have personal experience and they may be of interest for your pursuits.

http://smarti.wintog.com

http://www.ihousehomeautomation.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=472

http://forums.x10.com/

www.wgjohns.com/bvc.htm

http://www.infolink.com.au/c/Future-Touch/X10-DIY-Home-Automation-available-from-Future-Touch-n847860

http://www.automatedliving.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3574