Senior Project - Madeline

This project provides a software and hardware system that interacts with a user in many different ways. Inputs to Madeline include voice commands, contact switches, and motion detectors. Responses from Madeline include voice responses and activation of X-10 devices, such as lights and a stereo. A major goal of the project was to allow one to have a conversation with his or her house. An example interaction might be:

User:      "Madeline"
Madeline:  "Yes?"
User:      "What time is it?"
Madeline:  "The time is now 4:20 PM"
User:      "Turn on the stereo"
Madeline:  (the stereo turns on)
User:      (enters a room)
Madeline:  (the light turns on)
           (someone appears at front door)
Madeline:  "We have company"
           (volume on stereo is turned down)
User:      (leaves the room)
Madeline:  (the light turns off)

The system was implemented using existing technology for voice recognition and X-10 remote systems. The heart of the system was the development of a finite state machine driven by simple text commands. Each state defines outputs that will happen when it is entered, inputs that it can receive while in this state, and which state the system will go to when an input is received. This allows a user to easily program the system to allow custom scenarios. The system was implemented using Delphi 3 under Windows 95.