Amazon Echo to HA Controllers

[IVB]

ok seriously dude, I was being nice but come on - CastleOS can barely control any devices.  The entirety of your website is one page, including logos and pretty pictures. The only audio device is Sonos. No security systems. Looking at that list, I think only 2 of my 20 different devices are supported. Yes there are devices one could use to perform some elements of home automation, you might be a master of voice recognition, but there's not much there to control and its certainly a stretch to call something home automation if there's not much you support to control.
 
Assuming their HVAC guy doesn't look at them all hinky when they ask him to swap out their unit for that.

 

[ChrisCicc]

Millions of people are NOT doing that. They don't want to do that. They don't want to do home automation themselves, can you imagine millions of people even attempting to install an HVAC thermo? 99.9999% of people will just call their HVAC guy to do it, despite it being 5 wires color coded, and maybe a cat5e if they hardwire it like I did.   Or adding another motion sensor to their security system so that they can use both motion and voice to determine what to do and where. Thats even less, thats only 4 wires. 

 
Couldn't disagree more - for tomorrow if maybe not today. Gartner estimates that the typical family home will have more than 500 smart devices by 2022.
 
This isn't going to work if the type of configuration you describe is needed by the end user...

 

[ChrisCicc]

ok seriously dude, I was being nice but come on - CastleOS can barely control any devices.  The entirety of your website is one page, including logos and pretty pictures. 

 
Huh? Did you click the menu options above? Not only can we control hundreds of devices, we have much more than one page... 
 
Edit, full list of protocols we support: INSTEON, X10, Z-Wave, UPB, TCP Connected, LightwaveRF, Philips Hue, Ecobee, Nest, SONOS, Belkin WeMo, and all of them auto-configure with the voice control. 

 

[jkmonroe]

Couldn't disagree more - for tomorrow if maybe not today. Gartner estimates that the typical family home will have more than 500 smart devices by 2022.
 
This isn't going to work if the type of configuration you describe is needed by the end user...

 
500 devices!?  That Gartner report is really (really, really) stretching it. I don't think I have 500 things in my home total (not counting books), but I might get close if you could count each plate, fork, spoon, knife, glass, etc ...  As far as connected?  I am losing my mind over 50 devices, which is pretty low compared to others on CT - I can't begin to think of what fundamental infrastructure changes would need to happen for 500 devices to be in your home.
 
Taking the average American family size of 2.54, Gartner seems to think that each member of your family would have 196.8 devices.  EACH.  Seriously, where do these people get their numbers?  They have to make it up as they go along.

 

[ChrisCicc]

500 devices!?  That Gartner report is really (really, really) stretching it. I don't think I have 500 things in my home total (not counting books), but I might get close if you could count each plate, fork, spoon, knife, glass, etc ...  As far as connected?  I am losing my mind over 50 devices, which is pretty low compared to others on CT - I can't begin to think of what fundamental infrastructure changes would need to happen for 500 devices to be in your home.
 
Taking the average American family size of 2.54, Gartner seems to think that each member of your family would have 196.8 devices.  EACH.  Seriously, where do these people get their numbers?  They have to make it up as they go along.

 
How many people here bought a Wink egg minder? I did! That's a smart device. By the time 7 years from now rolls on, we'll have been accumulating smart devices like that for years. Add in sensors, smart windows, smart window tints, and the rest, and it's really not as unreasonable as one might think. 

Personally, I think it might be low. What happens when structural nano sensors are practical and earthquake-prone California mandates them in all construction? What happens when Sherwin Williams ships nano humidity sensors in each gallon of paint? The future is sensor driven, without a doubt... 

 

[Waynedb]

 
Everything is getting smaller. Two years ago, small form factor PCs were the size of Shuttle PCs. Then the NUC came out, then NUC like competitors went solid state, and got smaller still. Then Intel announced the Compute Stick. Like all tech, it's shrinking rapidly.
Regarding shrinking the microphone array, I agree with that. We have something in the works regarding that, but it will be many months before I can begin to say more

Tiny PCs capable of running Windows have been available for a lot more than 2 years and long before the NUC, I have used many of them. Pico-ITX boards have been around many years, I used them in building my own touch screen PCs.

 

[ChrisCicc]

Tiny PCs capable of running Windows have been available for a lot more than 2 years and long before the NUC, I have used many of them. Pico-ITX boards have been around many years, I used them in building my own touch screen PCs.

 
True, though we're talking in the context of enabling local far field voice control. It does require a certain level of baseline performance that older equipment couldn't provide... 

 

[IVB]

http://www.castleos.com/CompatibleDevices.aspx
 
Any whole house audio systems? No.
Any receivers? No.
Any TVs? No.
Any security systems/automation panels? No.
Irrigation? No.
Media Players (ie roku)? No
HVAC? Only zWave & Nest, not Aprilaire, RCS, Proliphix (ie the stuff most non-hackers would use).
 
So what exactly am I controlling? Yes I can say "i'm leaving", and COS will turn off a few things. From within 15 feet as in my house, the Kinect works for crap further than that. But I still need to run around and turn everything else off. Doesn't sound very automated to me.

 

[ChrisCicc]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHD_XOPdobk

 

[ChrisCicc]

http://www.castleos.com/CompatibleDevices.aspx
 
Any whole house audio systems? No.
Any receivers? No.
Any TVs? No.
Any security systems/automation panels? No.
Irrigation? No.
Media Players (ie roku)? No
HVAC? Only zWave & Nest, not Aprilaire, RCS, Proliphix (ie the stuff most non-hackers would use).
 
So what exactly am I controlling? Yes I can say "i'm leaving", and COS will turn off a few things. From within 15 feet as in my house, the Kinect works for crap further than that. But I still need to run around and turn everything else off. Doesn't sound very automated to me.

 
As the video above shows, you haven't seen everything CastleOS can do. I'm not going to say it can do everything (no system can), but it certainly isn't as you describe.

Here's more on the multimedia control: http://www.castleos.com/FeatureSpotlight.aspx?feature=MultimediaControl

 

[jkmonroe]

What happens when Sherwin Williams ships nano humidity sensors in each gallon of paint? The future is sensor driven, without a doubt... 

 
When my paint has sensors embedded, you will find me in my Thoreau-like cabin in the woods.  Or maybe I'd go all Dick Proenneke and just nope the fuck out.
 
And I'm the guy that likes this cloud enabled stuff.  

 

[snesgenesis]

Is there a way to control KODI/XBMC with Castle OS?

 

[ChrisCicc]

Is there a way to control KODI/XBMC with Castle OS?

 
Absolutely! Many of our customers do. Right now it's fully supporting in the voice control by default, as well as custom scripting for custom commands to be sent to the media player/server, and with the 2.0 release it will come to the app as well. 

You just need to enable remote control in the Kodi player, and CastleOS will find it. 

 

[snesgenesis]

Does the software conflict with any automation controllers like ISY994i?

 

[ChrisCicc]

Does the software conflict with any automation controllers like ISY994i?

 
No, several of our customers are using multiple side by side. 
 
The only catch you may run into is device status changes being sent to one controller but not the other, depending on the protocol. But if you're looking to use CastleOS for its voice control and the ISY for everything else that's not an issue..