Phil and Rohan chat with Thomas about his journey building an accessible smart home with Home Assistant. From experimenting with bulbs and voice assistants to creating cutting-edge automations like occupancy sensors and even a ChatGPT-powered smart mirror, Thomas shares how he tailors his setup to support his lifestyle and family.

Watch the full episode on YouTube

https://hasspodcast.io/ha202

Chapters

00:00:00 Introduction

00:01:08 Introduction of Thomas

00:01:22 Thomas' Journey into Smart Homes

00:02:51 Experiments with Smart Devices

00:07:17 Setting Up a Smart Home

00:14:07 Challenges of Automation

00:18:02 Focus on Accessibility

00:19:53 Innovative Projects for Visual Impairment

00:26:23 Smart Home Challenges and Solutions

00:30:47 Guest's Technical Background

00:31:09 Managing Home Assistant

00:32:30 Voice Assistants at Home

00:34:32 Voice Assistant Preferences

00:35:26 Accessibility Interface

00:36:20 Apple Products Integration

00:39:01 Automation Challenges and Planning

00:41:40 Security and Smart Locks

00:49:05 Pets and Automation

00:52:21 Language and Voice Recognition

00:54:18 OpenAI Integration

00:57:44 Favorite Automations

01:02:19 Closing Remarks

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Easily connect to Google and Amazon voice assistants for a small monthly fee that also supports the Home Assistant project. Configuration is via the User Interface so no fiddling with router settings, dynamic DNS, or YAML.

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Hosts

Phil Hawthorne

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Smart Home Products

Twitter: @philhawthorne

Bluesky: @philhawthorne.com

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Rohan Karamandi

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Smart Home Products

Twitter: @rohank9

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