Exercises

Needs Assessment

Objective

While wirelessly controlled radio remotes are great for controlling local devices, connecting them to the internet would let the devices be controlled from anywhere in the world over the internet. Additionally, integration with voice assistants would allow for ease of use while at home.

Background -- A Personal Anecdote

I personally purchased a set of five radio remote controlled outlets last year. They work as a pass-through device from the AC outlet and allow for any device to be plugged into the wall. I use them for things from my AC in my bedroom, the LED lights behind my desk, computer monitor on my desk, and even the kettle in the kitchen. While the ability to control these with a remote is convenient, it would add significant functionality to control these over the internet because it would allow for triggers to activate each device. For example, I could have the kettle turn on every morning at 9am so I could have hot water when I wake up to make coffee and oatmeal. Similarly, I could set up a temperature sensor that could trigger my AC to turn on if the temperature in my room reaches a certain level.

Methodology

To reach this goal would be to wire the remote's on and off switch to relays in order to simulate a button press. This would be much easier than attempting to hack the 3Rx-1Tx learning code, because it is protected and would take a lot of tinkering to figure out. Therefore, it was concluded that relays should be used instead. It would be necessary to link the relays to the GPIO pins on the Pi which would allow for custom triggers to each relay. One issue that is foreseen is will encounter in the future is the battery in the radio remote will die and will have to be replaced. Currently, it is powered by a 12V 23A battery, but this will eventually die. Once the system is finished, a 3D printed shroud will house all the components. Additionally, the relay module has the capability to power the raspberry pi using the two 5V pins, meaning only a single cable coming out of the back of the shroud is necessary.

Expected Results

The expected results are very straightforward, the remote, relays, and Pi are to be put into a 3D printed shroud to contain all the required components in a relatively small chassis which can be left in my room. The goal is to be able to control the remotes through an online portal, alexa voice control, and set up triggers that turn on certain devices.

Cost

Remote Control Outlet Set - $16.98
A Raspberry Pi (any version would work)
- I happen to have the Raspberry Pi 3B+
A 16 channel relay module
- I would use a 10 channel (one wired to the on and off buttons of the remote with 5 attached devices, but the only options are 8 or 16 channel, therefore I much choose the 16 channel)
12V Power Supply for the relay module
Temperature Sensor - 5.95

Problem Formulation

Problem Statement

An all in one solution with intuitive control that can turned on and off using a digital interface.

Present State - Desired State

Currently, the devices are connected to an existing radio remote that I bought from amazon last year. The desired outcome is to ditch the remote, which would only be used as a backup, and be able to set IFTTT (if this then that) triggers that could turn on certain appliances.

Source - Cause

Currently, there is no way for me to set a certain time of day I want my light to go on, confirm I turned my lights off when I leave the house, have the AC turn on when my room gets above a certain threshold and heater below a different one. Connected the remote to the Pi will allow for full control over this.

Possible Problems

Perhaps a misreading of temperature sensor that has the heater or AC run for no reason while away from home which would be a massive waste of energy. Additionally, without proper encryption of a web portal that could control the devices, they could potentially be hacked and controlled by someone unknown (the severity of this could vary depending on what type of devices are connected to the smart system)

Solution Development

It is important to note that first and foremost, this project is most likely for people to modify an existing system (or even any individual product) that they have that uses a remote with an on off button.

Projected Steps to Complete the Problem

Connect the relay modules to the raspberry pi GPIO and configure them as outputs
Connect each relay switch to each on and off switch on the controller
Connect the temperature sensor to the Raspberry Pi
Write a script that turns on and off each switch with a certain trigger
- Weather the trigger is clicking a virtual button manually, it being a certain time of day, or a certain temperature in the room
Build a web for manual control of each ON and OFF button with virtual switches

Intellectual Properties

Smart Thermostat - https://patents.google.com/patent/WO2016005512A1/en?oq=smart+thermostat

Controls household temperature using central AC which is turned on at certain temperature thresholds

Smart Lights - https://patents.google.com/patent/US6528954B1/en

Lights controlled by any type of remote user interface

Liability, Failure, and Hazard Analysis

Because this project isn't really a product that is being sold as an all in one package and rather more of a guide and walk-though of my experience trying to make my bedroom room at home smart, there are not many liabilities or hazards that could come with this project. The main thing that comes to mind is someone hurting themselves with the misuse of a soldering iron, or touching the live ends of the relay power supply if they accidentally had it plugged in while attaching it to the input of the relay module. Otherwise, there aren't hazards due to failure unless one of the smart-outlets is being hooked up to one of these smart outlets is inherently dangerous if it turns ON and it turns on by mistake through a software glitch, or hardware problem. Additionally, a warning sign should be present on the

Implementation

11/25 - The wiring between the Raspberry Pi, relay module, and radio remote is working perfectly and complete. The current objective is to code and design a web portal which can trigger the scripts with online buttons, as well as design and 3D a shroud for all three physical pieces of the system.

Case Study -- Amazon go

A personal Anecdote

A few days ago on saturday the 23rd of Nov I traveled to the city to the amazon Go store. I remember reading about it during its initial release, and have yet to go to the store so I thought it would be a fun little trip to go and see it for myself.

The experience was pretty much flawless, on the way there I downloaded the amazon Go app, which uses the same login and payment information as the standard amazon application and website.

The app has a very simple interface, when opening it you are greeted with a friendly message and a QR code to be scanned when entering the store. When arriving my first thoughts were about the size of the store, and the number of people working there.

There was one man who was a door man, and another employee who was there to help people install the app and explain how the process worked. Because I went with a friend, I asked the employee how It would work with two people who wanted to be on the same receipt, and it was as simple as passing my friend the phone with the QR code and scanning it again to get through the turnstile. The experience was pretty much seamless.

The first thing I grabbed was just a bottle of water, and then we spent a few minutes walking around browsing the store and what it had to offer. Eventually, my friend decided that she didn't want a water and rather wanted to get a ginger ale from the self serve fountain drink station, so we put the water back where we got it from and went over to get a fountain drink. At the same time I saw there was a starbucks coffee station, where I could choose my own drink and brew it myself from the coffee machine. So I grabbed a coffee cup from the dispenser in the table, put it under the machine, and selected my drink.

While it was brewing, I walked around the store and admired the array of sensors on the ceiling. There must have been at least 6 per square meter, an uncountable number of sensors throughout the store. By the end of walking around the store and grabbing a kit-kat on my walk while waiting for my coffee to brew, I had concluded that this was the future. After grabbing my coffee and literally just walking out of the store it took no more than 5 minutes for a receipt to come up on my phone.

The seamlessness of the experience was amazing, there were no hitches due to the fact that we put back the water, and it knew exactly what drink I got from the coffee machine. The reason I am bringing up this experience is because I found it had many parallels to this project. This system changed something as straightforward as grocery shopping and revolutionized it by making it faster and easier. While my project may be nowhere near as complex as what amazon is trying to do with their convenience store, I see it as a good start to updating old technologies and revamping them with a cybernetic solution.

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