In the flat I live in is a DigitalStrom Server installed. This thing lets us control light and blinds in lazy mode. Next to the door is a tablet mounted to the wall that shows additional info like current power usage, temperature, etc. An old ugly app built for Android version Anno Domini is available as well. We even have our Philipps Hue lamps hooked up to the system.
Surely the devices are controllable through light switches as well. But yeah… I’m too lazy to walk from the sofa to three different buttons to lower the blinds, turn off all light and turn on Philipps Hue light strip (a neat TV backlight if you know what I’m talking about).
Target: Let me set “TV Mode” scene in DigitalStrom Server by just calling out “OK Google set TV mode!”.
A lazy boy
Architecture
DigitalStrom Server advertises a simple API that’s callable from my LAN. Therefore I set up port forwarding and DynDNS on my router. OK, now it’s callable from outside of my network.
I hooked up DigitalStrom server’s API and Google Assistant through IFTTT – easy.
The API is not callable directly. Thus there is some logic to implement for acquiring a token and accepting the self-signed certificate. I implemented the logic in an Azure Function. For every new action I want to implement, I need to change the Azure Function. I’m a bad developer…
Conclusion
NEAT! I now feel like I’m having a butler. Now I can save precious calories by not getting up from the sofa. I’m thinking already about other ideas…