Messages

1

General Discussion / Artificial intelligence media worth looking at...

« on: January 03, 2015, 06:07:05 pm »

Greetings everyone, here are two links you may or may not be aware of that I thought would be prudent to share. First off, is the free Artificial intelligence MIT courses being offered online; http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-034-artificial-intelligence-fall-2010/
This is truly amazing, and completely free. I found the math-work being done in the 2nd class a bit beyond me, but the video lectures are insightful and helpful. You even get access to all of the readings and course work, but obviously you get nothing for finishing homework, accept personal satisfaction and points for being an awesome self-taught individual.

Second, this 8 (or 9?) part documentary style video put out by Rob Ager of Collative Learning is a fantastic watch, and really well thought out. It's central point is that our art and media has over hyped the idea of A.I. throughout history. It goes in depth through the history of A.I. in cinema and is a lot of fun. (The highlight for me was listening to two chat bots arguing, superimposed on the scene from terminator 2 of the two terminators wrestling around with each other. Lulz)  While there are several points I might want to argue with, I guarantee you will have food for thought after watching.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hvEiNpZrGU

Alright, I hope everyone has a wonderful new year!

2

General Discussion / Re: need help on creating a brain plug in remote music player

« on: December 25, 2014, 04:31:55 pm »

I know it's not the answer you are looking for, but it's a good half measure to tide you over in the mean time...
I just made a batch file on notepad that simply had a link to the site Pandora online. It literally consists of the word "start" followed by Pandoras web address
I put the batch file in hal's folder and I also used the plugin referenced here: http://www.ultrahal.com/community/index.php?topic=12067.0 to get Hal to open any and all .bat files.

Now I just tell hal to open pandora, and it logs me in automatically and plays my own personal music channels. I suppose someone could also just make a batch file for a per-arranged music playlist off of their own computers files that they have saved. I haven't tried this myself, and am pretty damn new to programming in general but these .bat files so far have been an easy work around for me so far.

3

Ultra Hal Assistant File Sharing Area / Re: Has anyone made a plugin so a user could turn lights on and off

« on: December 25, 2014, 04:22:03 pm »

I've been researching this with little definitive success. What I would personally like to see, would be a precise step, by step explanation for how one goes from the ultra hal program to interacting with the home automation's software/controller. I have no doubt that it is entirely possible, I would just like to hear from someone who's done it, and find out which automation brand they decided to go with. If we can get Ultra Hal to initiate a switch that can turn on/off  120v outlets then it's a short jump to get Hal to operate any mechanical device. Which to me, would be pretty damn cool.

4

Programming using the Ultra Hal Brain Editor / Re: Again with the home automation. Sincere apologies.

« on: December 21, 2014, 01:26:03 am »

I just found this in the forums: http://www.ultrahal.com/community/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=12067.0;attach=7385 I found it to be helpful. So much to learn, so little time.

5

Programming using the Ultra Hal Brain Editor / Re: Again with the home automation. Sincere apologies.

« on: December 16, 2014, 04:31:15 pm »

Thanks for the links DemonRaven. The hack-a-day page is interesting, and DIY which is nice. They seem to be using Arduino's to power remote servos. I checked to see if arduino is compatible with Visual Basic...turns out is is. So that is a definite option. Here is an instructable link describing how to do it for beginners...http://www.instructables.com/id/Arduino-Visual-Basic-6-Light-Controller/

The other link you posted "DronyX" is using C++, and is open source. It sounds pretty cool as is, but Making it work using Ultra Hal might be a bit tricky. Saying I'm a novice at programming would be an overstatement, but I'm starting to learn doing some VB tutorials. I am more than willing to start with something like C++ instead, if someone has used it successfully to link up with Ultra Hal Assistant.  I'm still quite interested to hear if anyone from THIS forum has successfully managed to automate something using Ultra Hal.

Finally, I found this; wit a.i https://wit.ai/community, which sounds really promising...I will keep digging and if I find anything conclusive, I will post.

Thanks guys for sharing your information and for being patient with me.

6

Ultra Hal Assistant File Sharing Area / Re: Has anyone made a plugin so a user could turn lights on and off

« on: December 15, 2014, 03:54:17 pm »

Greetings Larry,

I have a similar interest and since in your last post you mentioned finding a solution to your problem regarding insteon and ultra hal, I am respectively asking for more information on how you did it. I do not own any home automation software or hardware yet. I was waiting to hopefully find one that was at least somewhat compatible with the ultra hal assistant framework. So please, please, pretty please with sugar on top, give some pointers on how a newbie would go about reconciling the two and creating an automated home, that is directed via Ultra Hal. Thanks in advance!

7

Programming using the Ultra Hal Brain Editor / Re: Again with the home automation. Sincere apologies.

« on: December 15, 2014, 02:31:27 pm »

Thanks for the reply Art, and I appreciate the welcome. I've read some leads in the forums where people started down the path to Ultra Hal automation, but then the thread just dies, as I assume the project did as well. The struggle seems to be finding a way to connect the Hal architecture with whatever system is powering the lights, doors, etc. (like the x10 you mentioned, or maybe insteon?) I have a lot to learn either way, I was just hoping that this problem had already been solved and that someone could point me in a direction, since the barrage of dead ends has demoralized me. Ultra Hal has the ability to be customized from within, and that is what appeals to me about it. I have yet to see anything really on the same level coming out from the smart phone apps and talking toys. At least not yet.

At any rate, I'm here for the long haul. As you put it..."experimentation in the growing AI environment and have fun with it and our community of users." That sounds just fine to me.

8

Programming using the Ultra Hal Brain Editor / Again with the home automation. Sincere apologies.

« on: December 14, 2014, 10:07:29 pm »

Greetings everybody! Alright, I am a new convert to the ultra hal assistant. I know I'm quite late and have missed a lot. Having to track down info on forum threads over 5 years old is tiresome and it's killing me. I have faced problems, only to then read about them after the fact in the forums, (avatar issues, people putty and haptek's demise for starters) it's been frustrating to say the least.

I am very interested in using the ultra hal assistant interface to run home automation, or ANY automation for that matter. I have seen several leads in the threads, but nothing conclusive. And certainly nothing DIY simple enough for my limited programming knowledge. So I'm just putting this out there for anyone who's patient enough to give me a solid lead, or better yet...a how to guide for implementing automation via the Hal VB script, or perhaps some other cheat/work around. The means is irrelevant to me, I am interested in the end result. I'm using windows 8 presently and have the latest version of Ultra Hal.

Any and all help in this endeavor is VERY appreciated.

Thanks,

Gunnar