Check out Raymond Corrigan's cool do-it-yourself voice recognition door:
(Voice-controlled door video)
This idea is almost a hundred years old (at least), Here's an excerpt from A Journey to the Year 2025 by Clement Fezandie:
“Wait until I open the door,” she cried. And then, slowly and distinctly she pronounced the words.
“Open sesame!”
At the sound of her voice, a door in the roof noiselessly opened, and the arm-chairs on which they sat automatically continued their journey.
“Was it the sound of your voice that opened that door?” asked Silas, puzzled.
‘Why, certainly,” replied the young lady. “Almost all our locks are phonographic. We first make the record by speaking into the phonograph, and after that the lock will only open when the same voice repeats the same words, for unless the needle travels in the same groove, the electrical contact is not made, and the door will not open.”
(Read more about the phonographic lock)
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!)
is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for
the Invention Category that interests
you, the Glossary, the Invention
Timeline, or see what's New.
Gaia - Why Stop With Just The Earth?
'But the stars are only atoms in larger space, and in that larger space the star-atoms could combine to form living matter, thinking matter, couldn't they?'
Microsoft VASA-1 Creates Personal Video From A Photo
'...to build up a video picture would require, say, ten million decisions every second. Mike, you're so fast I can't even think about it. But you aren't that fast.'