2007-09-09T04:14:40 RDF reasoning for home automation: Updated: fixed FuXi link
I'm trying to do my home automation with RDF and reasoning. RDF is the unified way to write all the configurations, and I'm hoping to use a logic engine (maybe FuXi or Euler) to write the control systems. Hopefully those will make it easy for humans or computers to edit the setup.
I look forward to being able to ask an N3 proof system "why is the porch light on?" and having it tell me "the web said the sun has set by now, you tripped a motion sensor within the last 15 minutes, and there was no other light shining in this area, therefore I turned on the porch light".
Tonight I cobbled together the first working version of some home automation components talking RDF. A bluetooth dongle constantly searches for devices, and if it finds one, it states that [the bluetooth sensor] [senses] [the URI for the device]. Here's that program.
(BTW, avoid bluetooth chips by Integrated System Solution Corp and prefer ones by Cambridge Silicon Radio. The ISSC one I got has the lousy address 11:11:11:11:11:11 that's hard to change since I'm not using windows. Also, this bluetooth intro is really good.)
Next in my home automation system, a reasoning program hears about new statements and executes the right logic to produce more statements about what should happen. This program is a stub for now- it just turns the presence of my phone into a statement to power the door lock. But devices.n3 suggests what some of the logic might eventually look like.
Finally, an output program has been watching for statements about pins on the parallel port it controls. The reasoning program said to put power on bit2, so this program sets the output accordingly. On that pin is a circuit with an optoisolator, a triac, a transformer, and the electric strike that releases the door.
When the real logic is in place, the proof system should be able to say "I unlocked the door because someone friendly was nearby, because Drew is friendly and Drew carries a phone with the bluetooth address I saw".
