What's funny about that is, I had voice recognition software in 1991 that could start up any application on my computer, reboot my computer, etc. Surely there must be a small device with the processing power of my old 386-DX40.

I believe it was made by a company called Covox or something? There were several other companies that made similar software back then.

Could your device recognize multiple speakers, with varying accents and grammar style?

Yes. Not very well, but yes. Each person had to say a few sentences. This is fine for home use unless you run a halfway house.

Certainly not as well as the software we implemented to listen to phone calls in the background on wireless networks in the mid 90's. That was the wildfire project and was fun. We abandoned it, since our lobbyists were able to kick the hands-free laws down the road.