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The era of open voice assistants

(www.home-assistant.io)
878 points _Microft | 14 comments | 20 Dec 24 00:29 UTC | HN request time: 0.997s | source | bottom
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ragmondo ◴[20 Dec 24 13:39 UTC] No.42470962[source]▶
My plea / request : Make a home assistant a DROP IN replacement for a standard light switch. It has power, its adds functionality from the get-go (smart lighting), it’s placed in a convenient position for the room and no extra wires etc required.
replies(3): >>42471044 #>>42471316 #>>42472237 #
Carrok ◴[20 Dec 24 13:51 UTC] No.42471044[source]▶
Look at Shelly light switches.
replies(2): >>42471069 #>>42471142 #
timdiggerm ◴[20 Dec 24 14:04 UTC] No.42471142[source]▶
You've misunderstood what they're asking for. They're asking for Home Assistant hardware (microphone, speaker, wifi) that, instead of being a standalone box taking up space on the counter/table/etc, fits into the hole in the hall where they currently have a lightswitch.
replies(2): >>42471183 #>>42471514 #
1. Carrok ◴[20 Dec 24 14:09 UTC] No.42471183[source]▶
I guess I did misunderstand, because that request seems strange to me. I’m assuming they have more than one switch. Which one should have Home Assistant on it? Seems like an odd deployment strategy. A pi isn’t that big..
replies(3): >>42471251 #>>42471262 #>>42471267 #
2. hn92726819 ◴[20 Dec 24 14:18 UTC] No.42471251[source]▶
No I don't think that's it either. Home assistant runs on a server somewhere still.

What the top level comment is asking for, completely unrelated to the article mind you, is to have a smart device in the form factor of a light switch that you can hook into your home assistant system.

The problem they likely have (I have it too) is that you set HA up and it can control smart plugs, smart thermostats, etc, but it can't control 99% of the existing lights in your house because they are wired to dumb lightswitches. Instead of some mechanical finger flicking a switch or something, why not uninstall the existing light switch and replace it with a smart one.

replies(1): >>42471299 #
3. moffkalast ◴[20 Dec 24 14:19 UTC] No.42471262[source]▶
Not the home assistant controller, but a peripheral. A light switch you can toggle manually or through the assistant.

I think the problem with this setup is that it needs to be wifi connected, and if you embed an esp32 inside a wall it will get exactly zero signal. Maybe with external antennas hidden in the switch outer case.

replies(2): >>42471283 #>>42471292 #
4. jazzyjackson ◴[20 Dec 24 14:20 UTC] No.42471267[source]▶
Not OP but if I have to have a CPU and microphone for voice commands anyway it doesn’t sound crazy to throw a whole pi/relay node into every room of the house that I want to have control of. Pi zero 2 is fifteen bucks and can run Whisper speech2text iirc, throw ChatScript on there for local command decoding and call it a day. I think I’d pay 50 to 100 per room for the convenience, paying a premium to not have my voice surveilled by Alexa just to set timers.
replies(1): >>42471544 #
5. jazzyjackson ◴[20 Dec 24 14:22 UTC] No.42471283[source]▶
? I have my house packed to the brim with tplink Wi-Fi smart switches, they work fine.

https://www.tp-link.com/us/home-networking/smart-switch/

replies(1): >>42471627 #
6. Carrok ◴[20 Dec 24 14:23 UTC] No.42471292[source]▶
The switches I linked are esp32. They live inside the wall. They get great signal.
7. Carrok ◴[20 Dec 24 14:24 UTC] No.42471299[source]▶
So my original comment was not a misunderstanding. They are smart switch drop in replacements.
replies(1): >>42472408 #
8. ragmondo ◴[20 Dec 24 14:53 UTC] No.42471544[source]▶
Without trying to digress, but why not make it modular too ? I.e. base model is a smart switch, one unit is the “base” unit and the rest talk to that. Possibly even add further switches, dials (thermostat or dimmer etc). Perfect placement in my opinion.
replies(1): >>42471617 #
9. jazzyjackson ◴[20 Dec 24 15:00 UTC] No.42471617{3}[source]▶
Suppose I have a bias for meshnet vs hub and spoke. Seems to me having full power cpu on every mic is going to be better experience latency and glitchwise than streaming audio feeds around. Of course they would still talk to each other to pass commands around.
10. moffkalast ◴[20 Dec 24 15:01 UTC] No.42471627{3}[source]▶
Ah right I forget I'm talking to Americans on an American site, who all have walls made out of wood and gypsum. Try that with brick and steel reinforced concrete lol.
replies(1): >>42472590 #
11. hn92726819 ◴[20 Dec 24 16:22 UTC] No.42472408{3}[source]▶
Yeah, you're right. That is a weird request then, or I don't understand it either. I didn't realize something like [1] goes inside your switch. I was expecting a switch with a faceplate combined.

1: https://us.shelly.com/products/shelly-1-gen3

replies(2): >>42472861 #>>42476507 #
12. jazzyjackson ◴[20 Dec 24 16:45 UTC] No.42472590{4}[source]▶
:)
13. Carrok ◴[20 Dec 24 17:15 UTC] No.42472861{4}[source]▶
They also make what you’re describing.
14. chipsa ◴[21 Dec 24 00:30 UTC] No.42476507{4}[source]▶
I use Lutron Caseta switches for my smart switches.