Home Automation

[JamesW]

Hi all,

For the last couple of years I have been building up my home automation technology and other associated gadget items. I have always been a fan of tech and when I started to lose the use of my limbs I was able to compensate for some of this with the use of various electronic devices. Because I still have speech they are centred around a smart speaker system and I do understand that many members use eye gaze technology which may not be compatible with some of this.
Below is a brief list of some of the things I have and I wonder if other members would like further information on any of the systems:

Amazon Echo smart speakers (Alexa)
Ring doorbell
Hive heating
Smart plugs (for lighting control)
Housemate voice controls for profile bed (also an app)
Harmony voice controls for TV (also an app)
Speech to text and other accessibility functions (iPhone/iPad)
Air quality monitoring
Amazon Echo Connect (links your landline to Alexa)

James x

[Ellie]

Good for you James, that must have been very rewarding work 👍👍

I do understand that many members use eye gaze technology which may not be compatible with some of this.

Grid 3 software, which is the most popular one given with eye gaze devices, has environmental controls for TVs etc (infrared) and sockets (radio transmitter) It also interacts with Amazon Echo. xx

[Banned]

Great stuff James! Technology is definitely the way forward for people who have MND.

I am frustrated that our MNDA don't see it that way.

What do you find the most useful?

[JamesW]

What do you find the most useful?

Hi Graham,

i’m afraid I will have to pick two….

1. Being able to voice control the head lift and knee break functions on my profile bed. This means that I can adjust my posture myself throughout the night without bothering anybody else. I find these changes of posture vital so that I don’t spend all night in quite the same position. This system was fitted for me by my local Nhs electronic assistive technologies team.
2. My smart speaker system. I have several speakers around the house and can use them as intercoms if I need to, which is especially helpful sometimes at night time. The skills that are provided by manufacturers such as Ring and Hive that are compatible with my echo devices means that I can do things like alter the temperature in my home or speak to somebody at the front door through Alexa. I listen to music, the radio, can make phone calls and I also subscribe to audible books (which as a big reader has been an absolute lifesaver). I can also control my TV and I can switch on and off various lights around the house. All of this keeps me as independent as possible.

James

[Banned]

Interesting.

How reliably can you command it from your voice?

[JamesW]

Interesting.

How reliably can you command it from your voice?

So the set up looks something like this:

- The EAT team fit a Bluetooth control unit onto the profile bed. This unit works in pretty much the same way as the bed remote control but doesn’t replace it.
- You have a phone or tablet next to your bed and on it is installed a home automation app called ‘House Mate’. Again this set up is done for you but you do obviously need to have your own phone or tablet. This connects to the control unit via Bluetooth automatically.
- The house mate app is configured for the bed functions you wish to control. EAT do this, they gave me control over head up, head down, knee break up and knee breakdown.
- At bedtime I activate voice control on my tablet (on Apple iOS this is a voice command through Siri) and leave the app open with the screen brightness turned right down and autolock disabled to avoid the app closing. During the night I can call out a number between 1 and 4 to activate the controls. The control movements are incremental to avoid any injury or mistake so you have to get used to repeating the same command a few times to get where you want to go.
- At night the bedroom is very quiet so I have no issues in getting the tablet to hear my voice, in fact it will pick up a whisper. I can also turn on and off voice control if needed should there be a radio on or anything else that could disturb the bed functions. It can give you quite a start to be listening to the weather forecast and suddenly have your knees lift up by a few inches 😂😂😂
- It took me a little while to get the tablet set up as I wanted it but once I achieve that it has become a very easy system to use.

James

[matthew55]

Anything for us mutes? 🙈🙉🙊😄xx

[Ellie]

Anything for us mutes?

Yup 👍👍 Alexa and Siri work with text-to-speech from a device. xx

[Banned]

Very good James.

How do you control your lights?

Does the system provide any feedback to you before acting?

[JamesW]

How do you control your lights?

I have put several lamps on smart plugs around the house and can control them as a group or individually. I didn’t go for light switches as it is quite a big change and we don’t really use the main lights that often.

[JamesW]

Does the system provide any feedback to you before acting?

If you are referring to the bed control system then no it doesn’t. If you mean the automation system as a whole then you can set up routines and timers but to be honest the voice control is very straightforward so I don’t bother.

[Banned]

Hi James,

It must be disconcerting when the bed suddenly starts moving. Better would be 'Are you sure?', from the bed.

Do you have a line of communication with the team developing the app/bed?

Many of these companies will listen and enhance the product while they can. When the main developer moves on, that is when the company really struggles to make any significant changes. A lot like this forum.

[keno]

I have about eight Philips smart light bulbs around the house and six smart sockets

[JamesW]

Hi James,

It must be disconcerting when the bed suddenly starts moving. Better would be 'Are you sure?', from the bed.

Do you have a line of communication with the team developing the app/bed?

Many of these companies will listen and enhance the product while they can. When the main developer moves on, that is when the company really struggles to make any significant changes. A lot like this forum.

It doesn’t happen too often and it only moves in small increments so it’s not really a problem. As it was supplied through the NHS I’m not involved in development sorry 👍