Telling HAL what to do (instead of where to go)

[Mike Arman <armanmik@n-jcenter.com>]

Quiet Sunday Ruminations:

I've had the same cruise control actuating rod problem twice - I'm going to
look at using a "bead chain" - like on a light fixture or key chain -
little metal beads on wire links. The vacuum motor pulls on the rod,
opening the throttle - the rod "works" in tension, never compression, so a
bead chain should work just fine. When the cruise control is off, the chain
would be slack. Might want to thread it into a length of plastic tubing to
keep it from snagging on anything - same problem, different flavor!

Now how about this for Vorsprung Durch Technic: Voice control for some of
the most common functions in our cars!

Need a switch (like a pilot's push-to-talk switch) to keep idle
conversation from actuating the system, and a voice recognition system with
a vocabulary of maybe 50 or so words. (Can this be done on a chip? or a
Palm Pilot with Windows CE?)

(Press switch) "Sunroof. Open."    "Sunroof. Tilt."   "Sunroof. Close."

(Press switch) "Doors. Lock."

(Press switch) "Cruise. Faster." (maybe 3 MPH increments?) "Cruise. Slower."

(Press switch) "Blinkers. Right"    Anyway, you get the idea.

Any takers?

Best Regards,

Mike Arman