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
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
Support the Podcast
Get early-access to episodes and an ad-free feed by supporting our Patreon.
Support Rohan and Phil on Patreon
This episode was made possible thanks to our sponsors
Home Assistant Cloud by Nabu Casa
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.
If you're looking to upgrade your smart home - you can’t go past Zooz! Zooz offers a range of affordable and innovative devices, including water leak sensors, water valve controllers, smart plugs and scene controllers.
So for the best prices on all Zooz products, head over to thesmartesthouse.com
Hosts
Phil Hawthorne
Twitter: @philhawthorne
Bluesky: @philhawthorne.com
Rohan Karamandi
Twitter: @rohank9
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!