It's not that bad.  I swear I've seen a chip at Radio shack that can do limited voice recognition.  If you built the whole thing it could only recognize a few words.  But all you need it to hear is "power on" and "restart".  Or if you went all out you could program to understand German or something.  http://www.extell.com/english/news/n...d.php?no=7&p=1  Here's a link to a press article of the main chip style you'ld be looking for.  It's a stand alone chip you'ld use in toys and stuff.  From what I've found this is the chip to start with it seems to be a good one.  http://www.sensoryinc.com/html/support/docs/80-0015.pdf  All you need to do is set up the schmatics and add some memory.  Run it in cont. listening mode and it'll pick up your words and send out the appropriate signals.