Connecting my home to Google Now (and other voice commands)

whitenack

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May 20, 2010
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I have just started getting into home automation. First, I started out playing around with some wemo switches, then adding some IFTTT rules, then creating some Tasker rules, then writing some batch files on my PC to add some "If this...then that..." logic to the mix. I am really getting bit by the bug.

I was brainstorming some ideas on how to take this a step further and thought about a "whole house" Google Now project. I thought of this after one of my sillier ideas for home automation (a "Jarvis"-like audio greeting when I walked through the door). I have an old phone with a shattered screen that I should be able to set up to always be listening, and then I thought I could set a couple of bluetooth speakerphones around the house in a few places to widen the area of communication.

Before I began and started from scratch, however, I wondered if anyone else had been down this road before and I could compare notes.
 
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raptir

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Re: Connecting my home to Google Now

I'm not specifically familiar with home automation, but you mentioned that you had it set up to be controlled via Tasker? There is an app called commandr that will allow you to run any Tasker task via voice control in Google Now that may help you out.
 

whitenack

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Re: Connecting my home to Google Now

Thanks for the reply. There is also a tasker plugin called AutoVoice that will allow you to make custom commands. I haven't tested either app (AutoVoice or Commandr), so I don't know yet which one will be best. My main concern is setting up the hardware and whether that will work the way I want it.
 

pmp6nl

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I am also interested in something similar. Have you made any progress with this? I was thinking of hooking an old phone up to a microphone array and several speakers so I can use it throughout the house. Thoughts?
 

whitenack

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No, I haven't made any progress, but I am ready to start thinking about this more seriously. My wife dropped her phone and cracked the screen, so I am getting her a new one. Her old phone is still fully functional, so it should work perfectly for this purpose.

The hurdle I am trying to work through right now is how to connect the phone to mics and speakers throughout the house. If I only needed it in one room, it would be easy. However, I would like several rooms throughout the house to be "heard" by the device, so I need to figure out a way to connect it to several different mics and speakers.
 

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