Check Out This Berkeley Freshman’s ‘Ridiculously Automated’ Dorm Room | Hacker News Reader

Check Out This Berkeley Freshman’s ‘Ridiculously Automated’ Dorm Room

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77 pointsjedwhite33 comments

Home automation seems to be all-or-nothing today. I can buy a relay switch with keyfob activation for $20 at Home Depot, or I can call my local Control4 rep to come automate my mansion. The in-between seems non-existent. My finished basement has recessed lighting controlled by four or five different switches, all of which are in the basement. When it's time to go to bed, one of us has to trudge down to the basement and start flipping switches. It would make me happy to just have a nighttime kill switch -- I don't need the house to sense my presence and start turning on my favorite music. Might be nice, but I'm not willing to spend $10K on home automation to make it happen.

I started reading about Zigbee and thought, "Hey, I'll just install Zigbee-controlled switches in the same boxes where my analog ones are today. Then, I'll use some automation appliance (like OpenRemote) to implement "turn off all basement lights" via a phone app" I got confused when trying to figure out what I would need to buy, which stuff could actually talk to other stuff, etc. and gave up.

I'd love to see a start-up sell semi-DIY kits for people like me. I'm fine with replacing switches, plugging in network devices, etc., but I really don't have the time to pick out appropriate hardware and make it all work together.

I'd recommend looking into Digi's (digi.com) kits. ~$500 (I think) for their ConnectPort X4, a temp/humid/light sensor and SmartPlug. The X4 might be overkill, and you could get by with an X2 for cheaper.

If you know any Python, or willing to learn it, they've got some examples in the Eclipse-based IDE.

Edit: Here's the link to their kits (http://www.digi.com/products/wireless-routers-gateways/kits/)

This is a start, but it's about two levels below the level of abstraction I want. I'm thinking along the lines of:

Hey, buy a bunch of switches, sensors, etc. from us which all conform to an open standard (Zigbee?). Then, buy our controller unit and install our iphone/android apps. It'll work after just a bit of monkey-see-monkey-do configuration. Yeah, you have to get a screwdriver out and figure which breaker is associated with each room, but it ain't rocket science. If we go away, you might eventually have to buy another controller, but your investment in switches, sensors, etc. and all your time spent with a screwdriver won't be for nothing -- competitors are likely to support the same stuff.

This is what I want, and I would gladly spend in excess of $1K for it. Maybe $2K? This would be a bargain compared to paying for a Control4 reseller to come to my house and sell me a turnkey solution.

Best I can tell, your best bets are something like Ecobee or Nest for automated your HVAC. I'd keep an eye on the Nest however, their earlier models are built with Zigbee support, though they don't use it. My guess is they'll be using the initial Nest as more of a platform in which you can buy individual automation/monitoring modules that you plug and play to their system on some form of a payment plan (monthly hosting or upfront).

Hmmmm....I haven't even thought about HVAC control as a first-round goal. We have the standard "divide the days into four parts + weekday/weekend" programmable controller. Probably would be some cost savings from something more intelligent. My acute pain is from having to make sure the lights are off.

I work in commercial HVAC remote control, so that's where most of my knowledge comes from. When the Nest came out, we had a sour look on our face and when SparkFun disassembled it we saw where we matched. Honestly, I saw the idea as maintaining the source of income. By following the App Store approach, you sell the barebones platform in which the user can pick and choose what 'apps' he/she wants to use.

To be fair, HVAC control is HARD. You are dealing with ASHRAE Thermal Comfort Levels (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_comfort) that can change from humidity, solar, CO2 levels, the list goes on. Likewise, at least from our perspective, you inherit a lot of the pre-existing issues at a location. Suddenly, if a fan belt snaps and the site gets uncomfortable, you (be it a company or a DIY-er) have to justify it wasn't your fault before moving to actually fixing the issue.

Another problem is getting that sour taste out of the customers' mouth. Even if it isn't your fault, you are on the frontline and they aren't going to be happy with you saying 'Its not my fault.'

Edit: As for ensuring lights are off, the Digi SmartPlug maintains its status when it kills the power. Whatever is plugged into it will be 'off' when you set it to off state, and 'on' when you energize it. I played with their demo set at their conference last year and I hate to say, but it was fun clicking a button on a webpage and seeing a light over some sales rep's head turn off.

You can solve your problem for $30 per switch: www.thehomeautomationstore.com/ws13a.html

So, this one is the X10 standard? Which appliance controller gadget should I buy? I want someone to offer-up a bunch of stuff which is known to work together, except I don't want to pay zillions for Control4. An open standard would be nice, but I'll accept a reasonably priced suite of stuff.

Here are the step by step instructions.

1. Buy one of these: http://www.thehomeautomationstore.com/ws13a.html

2. Install it in place of the switch that currently controls one of the lights in your basement.

3. Repeat steps 1 & 2 for each of the five circuits. Give each one the same "house code" but a unique "appliance code" from 1 to 5. (The instructions explain how to do this -- I believe you just turn a dial to a particular number.)

4. Buy one of these: http://www.thehomeautomationstore.com/hr12a.html

5. Set it to the same house code you used in Step 3.

maybe i am missing something but why is the light in the basement on when nobody is in the basement?

We have young children. We're just happy if they don't clog up the toilets too often.

The problem isn't that there isn't a standard - "The great thing about standards, is that there are so many to choose from !"

There's x10, zigbee and zwave to start from. Oh and let's not forget the announced in Google IO 2011 their standard too !( Did google just do a "microsoft" with this btw?) . x10 is dated, insecure and very slow (and not really bidirectional). zigbee and zwave don't talk to each other. zwave does clever mesh stuff, but sometimes too clever (ie if a device ever fails, then all of its neighbours will forever complain unless you rebuild your mesh from scratch).

Here's the thing... YOU WILL SAVE MONEY AFTER 1 YEAR if you do HA on just your lights and heating ... but getting hobbyist stuff to work nicely is sooooo painful. I have a vera system running (in fact I'm the author of "vera alert" on Android) and I am sh1t scared of it going wrong and the kids don't have hot water or the heating switches off the boiler and refuses to talk etc etc.

Anyway. not sure where I was going with this tirade. Make sure you buy compatible devices (ie some zwave devices don't like other zwaves!) and GOOD LUCK.

There is a LOT of in-between.

All the main switches at my house are Insteon based.

I use Indigo as an automation platform (it runs on OSX) on an old Mac Mini.

Lights, HVAC, multi-room audio, and several other things are controlled/managed through this system. I can access it remotely with a native iOS app and/or with custom control pages. With some applescript it can be extended to all sorts of other devices and purposes.

Check out http://www.machomestore.com/catalog/ for Insteon/Indigo products.

Aha, someone selling something resembling a kit! Thanks for the link.

Edit: I'm not sure if this is the same person, I accidentally typed in dereklow.com and this person's website is dereklow.net. However note that on both websites, the person mentions "O-Levels examination" or "O Level certificate".

Original message: >I think that the dorm room is impressive, however I wish that the article didn't try to sensationalize it by saying he was/is a Freshman. According to his website, he is 27 years old and has a degrees in Animation and Interactive Media. Not to be cynical, but this room is really impressive for an 18 year old (original impression I got) to have put together, but less impressive for a much older person.

Not the same person. The Derek Low from dereklow.com never went to Berkeley, and that video is definitely a Berkeley dorm room.

Yeah, yeah, so the automation is not stunning, but how about the fact that the video is great promotion for his dorm room as a cool place to hang out? Personally, I'm hoping that some cool chick at Berkeley hears that 'Levels' remix and decides that Derek might be her kind of guy. Having cool stuff like that in your dorm is a perfect excuse for bringing girls back to check out your room, and it gives interested girls an excuse to swing by unannounced. Let's not forget what college is all about...

Haha right on, just hit the party button, and watch the panties drop.

"MIDAS" from MIT is 7+ years older, and significantly more impressive -- http://web.mit.edu/zacka/www/midas.html . CRTs give this kind of set-up much more credibility.

Agreed, and it was significantly more difficult to put together 7 years ago. This one is very, very similar.

Wow, not to mention that the MIDAS project shows much more personality and hilarity. Seagal vision for the security bot? Brilliant!

I've been reading up on home automation for a few weeks now, and, interestingly enough, in one article by Microsoft (http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/homeos/) they go into detail about how users were a bit adversed to automated a large portion of their life (Slide 13 here: http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/homeos/brushccw...).

No doubt what Derek Low did was super awesome, but he only hit the tip of the iceberg on what users 'want' (Slide 11). Sadly, while they loved creating scenes (modes), they weren't compelled to drop additional funds for it.

If he wants to continue pursuing this for his degree, I'm sure someone like Nest will try to scoop him up in a heartbeat.

As a side note, that automated blinds system was uncomfortably loud.

From the highlights in the article this appears to be very similar to an MIT student's project from a few years back...

http://web.mit.edu/zacka/www/midas.html

And he hit the red button like one should.

He used a bunch of X11 components to turn things on and off. That's not impressive. I did that in high school. I'm sure my non-technical mom could setup X11 too.

His homemade curtain opener is neat though. Clever use of a caster for a pully.

What's going to be really funny is the followup video of someone on his floor figuring out the channel he used and having some fun at 4AM with party mode.

Not sure if blacklight in a dorm is a good idea....

why?

Pretty sure they were making a joke about the appearance of bodily fluid stains under a black light.

Not that impressive.

Several people here have already linked to midas.

Personally, I've done part of this to my dorm, and it's cool, but still not impressive considering all that and more was done some 7 years ago with midas.

This is fantastic. As a college student I can absolutely attest that this is one of the coolest dorms I've ever seen and completely wish my dorm was as cool as this. Might be a project for next year.

I have a feeling that his "Romantic Mode" was underused.

When you bring your date back to your dorm room, say "romantic mode" into the voice recognition system and the lights dim - she will know without a doubt that it's business time!

Not impressive at all. Its ridiculously simple automation at Berkeley! I am sure some 14 year old kid in india can do this. - No machine learning, - No face recognition - No Gesture sensing - Only lights and curtains..please

This shouldn't be here.

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