The Future of Train Control ?

emjaybee · December 18, 2018, 10:54:09 AM

Quote from: Madann01 on December 18, 2018, 10:49:29 AM
Quote from: Buffin on December 18, 2018, 10:05:15 AM
How about, "Alexa, clean my track"?

Wishing my wife's name was 'Alexa'

No, he said "clean my track".

JonHarbour · December 18, 2018, 11:08:11 AM

I'm pretty sure it has already been done. One reason for doing so is that one could hold two schooners of said Victoria Bitter (one in each hand - a balanced diet in other words) whilst still running your trains.

I believe that Windows has offered voice control for several releases now and you could possibly hook that up to JMRI or Railroad Controller.

njee20 · December 18, 2018, 11:25:54 AM

Quote from: emjaybee on December 18, 2018, 09:52:44 AM
I find it incomprehensible that so many people are happy to have a 'permanently on' microphone listening to everything that is going on in their homes.

If people think that it is safe and secure, then have they learnt nothing from recent history?

Meh, so what! Everything in life has a trade off. Loads of people die driving, but most of us still drive. A potential threat that something maybe could happen isn't really a disincentive to me. Happy with my 3 Echos in various places around the house, they can listen all day long to my wife and I discussing what to have for dinner!

JonHarbour · December 18, 2018, 11:27:53 AM

Quote from: njee20 on December 18, 2018, 11:25:54 AM

Meh, so what! Everything in life has a trade off. Loads of people die driving, but most of us still drive. A potential threat that something maybe could happen isn't really a disincentive to me. Happy with my 3 Echos in various places around the house, they can listen all day long to my wife and I discussing what to have for dinner!

Marriage - two people constantly asking each other what they want for dinner!

railsquid · December 18, 2018, 11:28:04 AM

Quote from: njee20 on December 18, 2018, 11:25:54 AM
Quote from: emjaybee on December 18, 2018, 09:52:44 AM
I find it incomprehensible that so many people are happy to have a 'permanently on' microphone listening to everything that is going on in their homes.

If people think that it is safe and secure, then have they learnt nothing from recent history?

Meh, so what! Everything in life has a trade off. Loads of people die driving, but most of us still drive. A potential threat that something maybe could happen isn't really a disincentive to me. Happy with my 3 Echos in various places around the house, they can listen all day long to my wife and I discussing what to have for dinner!

So did you go for the pasta or cottage pie in the end?

njee20 · December 18, 2018, 11:58:49 AM

"Alexa... order a Domino's"

RailGooner · December 18, 2018, 12:17:10 PM

If one's command software is running on Windows 10, voice control via Cortana is achievable today. As to why, it would make the hobby more accessible to people with disabilities.

dannyboy · December 18, 2018, 12:58:03 PM

Quote from: JonHarbour on December 18, 2018, 11:27:53 AM

Marriage - two people constantly asking each other what they want for dinner!

Or, at this time of year, "what do you want for Christmas?"

daffy · December 18, 2018, 01:20:24 PM

George Orwell may have been almost right.

In a dystopian future (probably the end of the week), a sinister message could appear on your TextSpeak device:

"Big Brother is Playing with your Trains!"

But in my house he won't be.

I'm staying "Hands On". Automation can be a wonderful thing, but there's nothing nicer than just letting the big computer between my ears enjoy my layout without the assistance of Alexa, or Siri et al. (Not sure who Al is, but he, or she, will be out there somewhere, someday, ready, like his siblings, to render my muscles and senses superfluous.)

ntpntpntp · December 18, 2018, 01:46:16 PM

Quote from: w greatbatch on December 18, 2018, 10:48:25 AM
Hold on a bit !We are getting ahead of ourselves,we havn't got smoke or firebox glow yet.

Smoke in N was around in the 70s and 80s - Arnold and Ibertren for example

dannyboy · December 18, 2018, 01:49:36 PM

I have used a form of voice control for a couple of years. Usually in a louder than normal voice with a few expletives included!

daffy · December 18, 2018, 01:57:34 PM

Quote from: dannyboy on December 18, 2018, 01:49:36 PM
I have used a form of voice control for a couple of years. Usually in a louder than normal voice with a few expletives included!

Sounds like we have the same system David.

Does yours include my favourite, usually instigated immediately following a failure in the chain of command: "Whoops!"

dannyboy · December 18, 2018, 02:03:04 PM

I don't know if I have actually used the word "Whoops", but what I do use means the same.

Paddy · December 18, 2018, 04:20:49 PM

Voice control would seem a logical step at some point in the future. As the use of devices like Alexa etc. become more common and the younger generations move through the hobby they will expect this sort of thing. Would you want to is a good question but this has not stopped "progress" in the past.

The thing that surprises me in DCC. Whilst I get you can do all manner of clever things with DCC it just seems like a dead end. A solution to a problem from the 1980s. Surely the end game has to be wireless (completely) layouts where the loco/accessories have their own built in power source... I know there are people out there experimenting with this technology but it seems to me this is where model railways should be going.

Paddy

Madann01 · December 18, 2018, 04:52:57 PM

Totally agree with Paddy on the younger generation expecting the latest technical advances as you cannot stop progress. I am now at an age where I feel I am no longer able to keep up with all the latest advances or to some extent not want to

At least there is still the art of building the layout for our enjoyment after all however we control the trains technology cannot lay track or build scenery yet, (or can it)

NB. Just think about many soldering irons would be made redundant if we did go wireless?