Complete Computing Environment: Body Computing System

Body Computing System Base System
Body Computing System Features

Body Computing System Base System

My Body Computing System project is a pretty exciting thing. I have a goal of some day only owning two physical computers: One server somewhere under my control, running VMs with discrete function and purpose, and a personal computing device which melds to my workflow. A small piece of hardware that I wear on my person and can plug in to external devices for added functionality.

Imagine, in essence, plugging your phone in to a monitor and keyboard and suddenly having a 100% capable development machine. Or plugging it in to a projector or television and having it morph in to a media center which you can control with voice actions. And when I don't need it, it is invisible, waiting to deliver useful information or functionality exactly when I need it.

Currently, the Body Computing System is a Raspberry Pi, a cell phone battery pack, a small wireless keyboard, and some headphones. When CHIP ships, I will begin using it as the BCS core, as well as an interface via the PocketCHIP project that they've built.

The inspiration of this project comes from three places.

The first is the PAN which Manfred Macx where in the first saga of Charles Stross's Accelerando. In essence, he crammed a bunch of computing capabilities in to a vest and uses that as his only computer. Complete with a pair of glasses that would project a HUD for him, his system is a system we could see in existence even today. Indeed, my first iteration of the BCS is a ScottEVest vest that I may eventually pair with an Avegant Glyph.

The second inspiration is real-life, a TED talk that I watched in High School about the SixthSense system. Build a small system that provides ubiquitous computing integrated in to the real world in an intuitive way. I currently have strayed away from this inspiration since getting in to the meat of Computer Vision is not quite something I am ready for yet. Some day.

The third inspiration is the interface which Chief Aramaki computes with in Ghost in the Shell. A world where most people have chosen to cyberize their brains, giving them instant and transparent access to the internet and all of the knowledge and power it holds. Aramaki's neck interface served as the physical interface for his cyberbrain – Cyborg bodies had the clips in the back of their necks to create wired interfaces, but Chief's organic body does not. Obviously, I don't have a cyberbrain to interface with, but the idea of cramming computing aspects in to a system like this is actually not bad, and a rabbit hole that may be worth going down some time soon, in terms of design and implementation, should the SeV vest prove to not work for this use case.

(provide 'cce-bcs)

(defvar cce-mode nil)

(defvar cce-bcs-minor-mode-map
  (let ((map (make-sparse-keymap)))
    map)
  "Keymap for `cce-bcs-minor-mode'")

(define-minor-mode cce-bcs-minor-mode
  "Minor mode for providing CCE affordances for the Body Computing System
\\{cce-bcs-minor-mode-map}"
  :global t
  :init-value nil
  :lighter "[BCS]"
  :keymap cce-bcs-minor-mode-map
  (if cce-bcs-minor-mode
      (cce/disable-bcs-mode)
    (cce/enable-bcs-mode)))

(add-to-list 'desktop-minor-mode-table '(cce-bcs-minor-mode . nil))

(defun cce/enable-bcs-mode ()
  (unless (and (boundp 'cce-mode) (eq cce-mode 'bcs))
    (setq smex-auto-update nil)
    (emacspeak-pronounce-refresh-pronunciations)
    (when dtk-quiet
      (dtk-toggle-quiet t)
      (emacspeak-toggle-auditory-icons t))
    (run-hooks cce-bcs-minor-mode-hooks)
    (setq cce-mode 'bcs)))

(defun cce/disable-bcs-mode ()
  (when (and (boundp 'cce-mode) (eq cce-mode 'bcs))
    (setq smex-auto-update t)
    (dtk-stop)
    (dtk-toggle-quiet t)
    (emacspeak-toggle-auditory-icons t)
    (setq cce-mode nil)))

(defvar cce-bcs-minor-mode-hooks nil
  "Hooks to run once the BCS minor mode is enabled")

(add-hook 'after-cce-hook
          (lambda ()
            (cce/with-any-domain '("bcs")
                                 (cce-bcs-minor-mode 1))))

(define-minor-mode cce-kindle-minor-mode
  "Minor mode for providing CCE affordances for the Body Computing System
\\{cce-kindle-minor-mode-map}"
  :global t
  :init-value nil
  :lighter "[KINDLE]"
  :keymap nil
  (if cce-kindle-minor-mode
      (cce/disable-kindle-mode)
    (cce/enable-kindle-mode)))

(add-to-list 'desktop-minor-mode-table '(cce-kindle-minor-mode . nil))

(defvar cce-kindle-minor-mode-map
  (let ((map (make-sparse-keymap)))
    map)
  "Keymap for `cce-kindle-minor-mode'")

(defun cce/enable-kindle-mode ()
  (global-font-lock-mode t))

(defun cce/disable-kindle-mode ()
  (global-font-lock-mode -1))

(defvar cce-kindle-minor-mode-hooks nil
  "Hooks to run once the KINDLE minor mode is enabled")

Keybindings

A lot of the keybindings provided by the BCS modes need to be little more than wrappers for a command that speak the output; things like the current time, network connection details, transit information, that sort of thing.

The first thing is a binding that spits out network information, what SSID the Body Computing System is connected to, and its IP address.

(defun cce/network-info ()
  (interactive)
  (let* ((ip-buf (get-buffer-create "*ip*"))
         (net-buf (get-buffer-create "*wifi*")))
    (shell-command "ip addr | grep wlan0 | tail -n1 | awk '{ print $2 }' | cut -d/ -f1" ip-buf)
    (shell-command "nmcli con | grep wlan0 | awk '{ print $1 }'" net-buf)
    (format "Connected to %s with address %s"
            (with-current-buffer net-buf (buffer-string))
            (with-current-buffer ip-buf (buffer-string)))))

(define-key cce-bcs-minor-mode-map (kbd "C-c e n")
  (lambda ()
    (interactive)
    (emacspeak-speak-string (cce/network-info) emacspeak-speak-paragraph-personality)))

Tasks

DONE Finalize emacspeak installation

DONE Make sure emacs starts on boot

DONE Fix sound

echo snd_bcm2835 | sudo tee -a /etc/modules:
usermod -aG audio rrix
usermod -aG rtkit rrix

DONE Make bluetooth keyboard work to control emacs on boot

NEXT a way to get buffer context

buffer name
buffer filename
current line

NEXT way to read sauron

DONE pull my n900 customizations in to bcj

NEXT ocr for images on raspicam

NEXT telegram support

NEXT easier way to quickly load gnus

NEXT cover the red led

NEXT gnus doesnt read first article

NEXT simple network status stuff

DONE migrate off of helm

NEXT quash twittering mode update messages

NEXT gnus notifications

NEXT get some clasps to keep power and headphones out of the way

NEXT figure out how to get pinentry to work with espeak

NEXT consider wiring up mcat to comint fror an elisp interface to matrix

[2015-09-19 Sat 20:21] irc session 'fort.kickass.systems:16697/#ft_kickass'

DONE Get some clasps to keep power and headphones out of the way

[2015-09-19 Sat 20:21] irc session 'fort.kickass.systems:16697/#ft_kickass'

NEXT install openvpn configuration on bcj

[2015-09-21 Mon 06:49] Update FSEM

NEXT prompt for morning prep tasks

NEXT volume bindings

[2015-09-22 Tue 08:07] General Time Spent

NEXT move most of evening shutdown to work flow

[2015-09-22 Tue 07:53] Clean up ./refile.org

System Work Tasks

NEXT Neck Pi

NEXT Consider alternate layouts until CHIP design is functional
- attach pi to belt/fannypack
NEXT CAD up a neck prototype and print with proper weighting

NEXT Power System

NEXT Power burndown test with Emacs running
NEXT Clean up the wiring interface for the computing system

NEXT Sleeve/input systems

NEXT Get adafruit bluefruit stuff working
INPROGRESS Sleeve
- DONE Purchase sewing thread PURCHASE @STORE
- DONE Purchase scissors @STORE PURCHASE
- INPROGRESS Sew the wearable sleeve platform in
- INPROGRESS serial queue listener
- NEXT vibration motors
- NEXT switches and buttons
- NEXT LUX announcer
  - NEXT Sew in LUX sensor
  - WAITING Program serial announcer for LUX sensor
- WAITING LUX consumer and tsdb
- NEXT Review Linear SoftPot (Ribbon Sensor) {100mm} ID: 178 - $7.95 : Adafruit Industries, Unique & fun DIY electronics and kits
  - FTDI programmer TOOLS TECH
  - USB GPS TECH ATTACH
  - Super bright Red LEDs TECH CONSUMABLE ATTACH
  - XBee S1 TECH
  - Arduino Protoshield ATTACH TECH
  - 16x2 character Arduino LCD ATTACH TECH
  - Assembled FM Transmitter ATTACH TECH
  - Digilent ChipKIT Max32 ATTACH TECH
  - Drawdio board ATTACH TECH

Body Computing System Features

INPROGRESS Photo Life Logger

Use the Raspberry Pi camera module (Adafruit) instead of using my GoPro which will add a lot of complexity to the project for little gain. The more I type this out, the more interesting that sounds, and I'd like to use the Pi Camera for this instead. We basically need to wire this up to the Pi and create a world where it's okay to reboot the Pi; it'll need an RTC basically, so that we can set the time at boot and make sure the metadata on the photos is proper.

Single Press Photo
Single Press Video

(defun cce/raspicam-photo ()
  "Take a photo with raspicam"
  (async-shell-command "~/bin/raspicapture.sh"
                       (get-buffer-create "*raspicam*")
                       (get-buffer-create "*raspicam-error*")))
(define-key cce-bcs-minor-mode-map (kbd "C-c t") 'cce/rapsicam-photo)

OUTPUT_DIR=/home/rrix/lifestream/
FILENAME="capture_$(date +%s).jpg"
mkdir -p $OUTPUT_DIR
sudo /opt/vc/bin/raspistill -w 800 -h 600 -q 90 -o $OUTPUT_DIR/$FILENAME -t 2500 -rot 180
sudo chown -R rrix.rrix $OUTPUT_DIR

[Unit]
Description=Take a photo with raspistill

[Service]
Type=simple
ExecStart=/home/rrix/bin/raspicapture.sh

[Unit]
Description=Take a photo every x minutes

[Timer]
OnUnitActiveSec=%i
OnBootSec=%i
Unit=raspicam.service

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target

link-this $PWD/out/raspicapture.sh ~/bin/raspicapture.sh
chmod +x ~/bin/raspicapture.sh
link-this $PWD/out/raspicam.service ~/.config/systemd/user/raspicam.service
link-this $PWD/out/raspicam.timer ~/.config/systemd/user/raspicam.timer

systemctl --user daemon-reload
systemctl --user enable raspicam@5min.timer

DONE Purchase toggle switches @ADAFRUIT PURCHASE

DONE Purchase a RTC @ADAFRUIT PURCHASE

INPROGRESS Get lifestream cronjob ported to systemd timers

NEXT port
NEXT generate uuid at boot for photos to not collide
NEXT Make systemd timer only run after NTP has sync'd
WAITING ansiblize

NEXT IR Blasting

Build in a system of high power IR LEDs that we can use to disappear from cameras

Adafruit sells these for super cheap and we could connect these up to a MOSFET powered by one of the brain's GPIO pins.

I think I'd want two sets, a pair that mounts on my glasses to obscure my face, and a set that would obscure the rest of my upper body. The neat thing is that my glasses have a pair of magnets designed to allow you to attach sunglasses to them, which we could exploit to make mounting these LEDs seamless.

NEXT Purchase MOSFETS @ADAFRUIT PURCHASE

DONE Purchase protoboard @ADAFRUIT PURCHASE

NEXT SMS Alerts

I want to port my number from Google Voice to Twilio, and to not need to own a cell phone; my body computing system should provide external hotspot; the system would connect to that hotspot for internet connectivity and poll Twilio for SMS statuses.

The alerts themselves would be handled with something akin to a smartwatch – whether that is my pebble or not – or a vibration alert system paired with the interface device.

NEXT Sew in vibrating motors

NEXT Program in support for sending vib events

NEXT Create a Twilio Matrix appservice

NEXT Voice Capturing Notes

Not necssary speech recognition; could just spit out ogg files for later transcription.

Right now I'm thinking I'll just a microphone with the Pi and a momentary switch for recording.