Via Slash Gear
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If you’ve ever been inside a dormitory full of
computer science undergraduates, you know what horrors come of young men
free of responsibility. To help combat the lack of homemaking skills in
nerds everywhere, a group of them banded together to create MOTHER,
a combination of home automation, basic artificial intelligence and
gentle nagging designed to keep a domicile running at peak efficiency.
And also possibly kill an entire crew of space truckers if they should
come in contact with a xenomorphic alien – but that code module hasn’t
been installed yet.

The project comes from the LVL1 Hackerspace, a group of like-minded
programmers and engineers. The aim is to create an AI suited for a home
environment that detect issues and gets its users (i.e. the people living in
the home) to fix it. Through an array of digital sensors, MOTHER knows
when the trash needs to be taken out, when the door is left unlocked, et
cetera. If something isn’t done soon enough, she it can even
disable the Internet connection for individual computers. MOTHER can
notify users of tasks that need to be completed through a standard
computer, phones or email, or stock ticker-like displays. In addition,
MOTHER can use video and audio tools to recognize individual users,
adjust the lighting, video or audio to their tastes, and generally keep
users informed and creeped out at the same time.
MOTHER’s abilities are technically limitless – since it’s all based
on open source software, those with the skill, inclination and hardware
components can add functions at any time. Some of the more humorous
additions already in the project include an instant dubstep command. You
can build your own MOTHER (boy, there’s a sentence I never thought I’d
be writing) by reading through the official Wiki
and assembling the right software, sensors, servers and the like. Or
you could just invite your mom over and take your lumps. Your choice.