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HAL is a home automation tool that can enhance anyone's lifestyle because of it's highly diversified entertainment factor.
This page, however, is dedicated to automated living as it relates to people in need of help.

Consider the following scenarios:

1) Carmen lives on the top of a mountain about five miles from a ski resort, so she can be home during some inclement weather. Carmen is a brittle diabetic. When her blood sugar drops below a certain point, she loses awareness of her surroundings, only people around her can't quite tell that this is happening. That is, until she drives into a tree. Or walks off the second story deck. Carmen is not allowed to drive anymore because of this. She also has been prohibited from visiting her mountain home alone. Up until now. Carmen has a new insulin pump. As part of her pump, she paid extra for a "Blue Tooth" port. One feature of this pump (about the size of a credit card) is that once a pre-determined blood level is reached, the blue tooth device can be triggered to contact HAL. HAL will then make a phone call and keep the phone line open so Carmen can respond to the other person on the line. Carmen can decide if this is to be the 911 operator, her neighbor, or anyone else. Her husband does not want to receive the phone calls because he will be in South Carolina and won’t be able to do anything but worry once he gets the call. At any rate, the cameras in the house are programmed to aim towards any motion detected in the house. Anyone can log into the cameras over the Internet. Once the emergency status has been declared, a password is not required for the cameras to be accessed by the emergency services. The ambulance squad watches on their Blackberry PDA while en route. Carmen's global positioning unit feeds to HAL's camera images. Carmen's daily and routine experiences in the mountains continue to add to her memories. She is not relegated to life home alone in her South Carolina residence.

2) Scott has lost motor control to the point where he cannot operate many gadgets in the house including the new remote control for the entertainment system. Now, because of HAL, all Scott has to do is to speak aloud much like his wife does in their new car. "All I have to do is say, 'Turn on the TV', or 'Change the TV to HBO' and HAL does it. I can also dim the lights, or get the weather report just by asking for it. I can turn on the camera at the front door so I can see who is ringing the bell. My system alerts me to the fact that a car has pulled into the drive. I can really be comfortable in my home now." Scott has joined the crowd who have experience the joys of integrating HAL into their lives.

3) Maggie has fallen in her bedroom. She knows HAL is in the living room out the door and around the corner. Maggie's son asked that microphones be placed in the bedroom as well as in the living room, but Maggie could be heard from HAL in the living room just the same. Maggie speaks a little louder than normal, "HAL, call 911". She hears the phone dial and the operator answers. Maggie tells the operator that she is in trouble. HAL keeps the line open until someone presses the reset button located in the living room next to the TV.

4) Mike Bock leaves his home in Philadelphia for a well-deserved Christmas vacation in Venezuela. He looks forward to the morning ritual of covering his toes with the warm salt water-sand mixture of tropical Atlantic waters. While away, a cold front moves in to Pennsylvania. The temperature drops below 20 degrees Fahrenheit. The central heat kicks in, but for some reason, the gas line cannot supply enough gas and the heater shuts down. The interior temperature begins to drop. If something isn't done, the pipes will freeze. By the time Mike Bock returns, his house will be a disaster with two weeks of open tap water flooding into the home from the third floor working down. HAL reads the thermometer. Mike has told HAL that if this situation ever comes up, HAL is to make two phone calls. One is to his neighbor, but the neighbor is in Venezuela with Mike. The other phone call is to the plumber, but the plumber got a new phone number when he switched services. No luck with the phone calls. HAL then goes to plan B. HAL sends all the signals with impeccable timing. First, the water gets shut off at the street connection in the basement. Secondly, a third floor bathroom faucet gets turned on as if by invisible hands. Third, the newly installed drain valve opens up and the entire plumbing tree drains into the receptacle also located in the basement. Mike returns to Philadelphia 13 days later and he wonders why his kitchen faucet does not turn on in order to make some coffee. Upon further exploration, Mike discovers that HAL has prevented the horrendous damages caused by 13 days of free-flowing gushing water. HAL stands for "Home Automated Living". HAL™ is a computer operating system that runs on any computer with Windows™. HAL runs devices using UPB technology that sends signals on existing power lines over such distances as several miles without interruption. HAL works with almost every device in the home. Using voice commands is quite entertaining. Commands can also be delivered over the Internet or by smart switches and by remote controls. HAL uses and defines scenes, or scenarios. Schedules can be set that will establish when lights and TVs come on over the course of a day or night. If certain situations arise, various tasks can be performed in order to answer to the situation.

HAL can make life easier and more entertaining, or HAL can even save a life.

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Dora Hutchens