Seen a few IoT custom highly-techy geeks putting systems like this together, and was wondering if someone has done something similar with OpenHAB?
I come to the front door, and house says “Good (morning/afternoon/evening) xyz… weather is forecast to be good for the rest of the day and I must advise that you need to replenish your milk supply as it is running quite low”…
Turning off lights and whatever is just gimmicks for me, laziness really… what I really would love is real automation, where the house anticipates and works with you… I see all the building blocks out there, but wow is there a lot of tinkering to do… would just be great to grab a template, throw in the relevant sensors, and eureka, it all just works…
OpenHAB v16 maybe?
PS. yes I watched that video of Mr Zuckerberg of Facebook fame and his home AI “Jarvis”… I guess what I’m hoping for is a template system where OH users can share their tinkering-efforts easily with less-techy individuals, a plug-and-play ability of sorts ontop of the powerful building-block foundation which OH is revered for.
Well and that’s what’s it’s always gonna be: geeks putting systems like this together.
It’s all individual and so are your efforts you need to put into planning for this.
OH has all the components it takes such as the gpstracker binding (to know when you’re getting home) or other means of presence detection (search the forum).
It also has integrations to TTS services, loud speakers, cameras, door systems, weather information etc etc. So “just” put it together.
No there is likely never going to exist that plug’n play template system you imagine.
everyone is different
every house is different
and even your needs differs time to time … so automate things in certain way may not be that great idea when you have different needs on same pattern.
I think automation should help to do recurring things and/or helping to save some costs (eg. optimize lights/heating etc.) but not really substitute human activity.
I’m not really fan of refrigeators ordering milk and ideas like that, which is simply stupid or voice commands as they are simply not still very efficient way how to do stuff.
So template for that would be incredibly limiting for person A at same time overhelmingly complicated for person B
I must admit I am indeed a ‘geek’, my only issue these days is that I’m a fulltime daddy too and expecting another soon too, also have a couple of dogs, also a very busy extended family social lifestyle… things changed dramatically when I tied the knot so to speak…
so being a ‘geek’, tinkering into the early hours, coding, soldering, failing, doing it again etc etc… really has become a distant dream now…
“loadable templates” would indeed still require some effort to tie up loose ends, bind sensors etc… but god would it make all the difference to all the past-geek daddies out there (yes me included)…
I won’t hold it against OH… I can see that what I request would require a huge investment in time and development… but hey, if we don’t ask, we’ll never plant a seed or two…
PS. it would be pretty amazing to have a face-recognition plugin for OH so that rules can become a little more intelligent, but again indeed this is possible by dragging a completely different system off github into the equation and throwing some scripts together, I know, I know… but time is the issue… and I suppose this is where consumer systems will probably get better over the next few years, then again they will never quite have the power and flexibility of platforms based upon OH… unless consumer AI hits a whole different level…
No need for tutorials on that, it was probably one of the first things I did with OH… pretty much everything thus far has been quite easy to get going without a need for tutorials to be frank… OH does have a pretty straightforward ‘sensible’ structure to that regard.
same here, but my girls are big enough so I again can
OH is meant to be an HUB to control all your devices, so whatever your software for face recognition is, you can use output information in OH indeed.
OH (I hope) will not become all-in-one solution…
All in one is down to plugins… the more plugins the more ‘all in one’… it already has that flexibility…
its just missing that ‘logical’ user-friendly saving/loading templates UI feature… for now its copy-paste, go into files here and there and edit away… and even that has become less and less with a more user-friendly interface…
Your fear of all-in-one, is not something OH could ever become, it is a framework, not a closed product with finite possibility. That is not what an open flexible framework is about… what I’m suggesting has no bearing whatsoever in that direction! It is about entertaining a larger audience.
ps… yes after mine hit that ‘dont need daddy anymore’ stage, I’m sure I’ll be back in geeksville full-on… even get to finish my classic racer restoration one day… but I much rather have a custom automated house yesterday
OH bindings provides connection between different technologies across whole IOT industry
What you mean if Iam getting it properly is to have plugins inside OH which will provide functionalities inside OH to do stuff which is meant to be done on the devices itself.
But maybe I’m just misunderstanding your concept, no worries it’s early morning
Correct OH provides the flexible, sometimes complex tools for YOU to do what you imagine without getting in your way.
OH does not claim to be an all in one solution nor does it claim to be user friendly. It is up to you to be creative and determine whether your vision is worth the effort to implement.
I connected up Alexa to openHAB for the TTS feedback and then discovered I actually quite like voice commands too. They are useful in the right situation. It has its own place and can save time and mess. You get used to this new option and find yourself thinking
Setting timers while actually cooking, pouring hot water on a tea bags, etc.
Operating stuff with messy hands. No problem, just carry on and tell Alexa to do it…
Just sat down with a drink in hand and forgot to turn something off somewhere. No worries.
Turning lights on and off and not having to stop what you are doing.
The list goes on and the applications will grow.
I see some are the opinion its just lazyness but I remember old folks saying the same things about IR remote controls and the telly.
Indeed, this argument of convenience vs laziness has been going on for generations… one man’s convenience another man’s laziness… no right or wrong, no good or bad… options… that’s all it is.
However I must add that sometimes ‘convenience’ can bring laziness to the table, and too much of that can lead to huge social problems in society…
First it was supermarkets, social media, big Amazons… it all does indeed make life that much easier… but the costs in terms of how humans relate and socialise and how societies have been functioning for a millennia… are never quite understood until it is far too late.
Not too sure on the context of your response… but I do agree literally…
Looking back at how OH has evolved… it is becoming ‘easier’ to use each major version… so there is a natural force already present hell-bent on captivating an ever-increasing global populace desiring home-automation… ‘user friendly’ does not undermine the power of a system, it embraces form and function with little elbow-grease… once upon a time we had Unix… now we have Gnome/KDE/Windows/OSX… there is always progression… innovation…
I’m probably too oldfish-tuna-can, but I somehow can’t get over fact Alexa is basically spying your home 24/7 sending everything up to cloud somewhere.
All my IOT devices has got separated network without internet access out/in at all and therefore I feel very safe and confident about security of my setup
But that’s only me do not take it anyhow
Privacy and Security IS the prime reason why I OpenHAB captivated me. Security is actually the prime purpose of my OH installation, but now that I have that working flawlessly… the unlimited possibilities just dragged me deeper down the proverbial rabbit hole!
If you want a system that focuses on user friendliness while adding a bunch of solutions, look at Home Assistant. Be forewarned that, in the process, you may sacrifice stability.
OH seeks to be a stable platform HA does not make that claim, as far as I am aware. That is why I am here instead of over there. your first post made it appear that OH may not be the best choice for you. It is only designed to provide the means to accomplish things while leaving it to you to add the details.
That is a rather prudent and unqualified response. Respectfully, what is good for me and what is not good for me is my choice and not yours to make. I have had HA running, I left, I have had Node Red running, I left… I came upon OH and I actually found it to be more fitting…
…making suggestions for further enhancements/features on top of what is already available is not derogatory nor is it demanding a change in ethos… I have an open mind… I do not for one second believe the developers and maintainers of OH have closed minds… iterative progression in the direction of expanding a system’s audience is a very real factor in keeping opensource projects alive… not to say OH will die out in a few years… HA is a very good system, so is Node Red, even the guy down the road with his own linux shell scripts based system is very good, because they all serve a purpose. The system I use I would love to see further enhancements… and that goes for pretty much everyone who relies upon opensource projects… commercial systems tend to be the ones with closed minds or the ‘10 year capitalist model’… that is a whole different ball-game.
My house does identify me, or my other half, and speaks to me by name when I first enter the house
I can speak to it and it speaks to me when there is a need. There are many sensors both inside and out to give the house a kind of awareness. I have whole house automation with a lot of devices connected via a BUS system as the backbone.
My house is already doing a lot for itself mostly with little to no interaction from me. Its not intelligent nor thinking but when creating my home automation thing I always had in mind a Jarvis.
The idea was for my low energy house to take care of most of the routine things and leave me to do more of the fun stuff.
However, fun turned out to be forever thinking about and tinkering with home automation
