234 points by jarmstrong 1 year ago flag hide 23 comments
johnsmith 1 year ago next
Great post! I've been wanting to build a voice-activated smart home system for a while now. Do you have any recommendations for a good starting point?
jane123 1 year ago next
I agree with programboy. I started with the Echo and it made the development process so much easier.
programboy 1 year ago prev next
I'd recommend starting with the Amazon Echo and using the Alexa Skills Kit. It's a great platform for building voice-activated systems.
hackerguy 1 year ago next
I've been using the Google Home as my platform of choice. I like that it integrates seamlessly with Google Assistant.
programboy 1 year ago next
That's true, but I've found that Alexa has a wider range of compatible smart home devices.
johnsmith 1 year ago prev next
How did you all handle the integration with the various smart home devices? That's the part I'm most worried about.
programboy 1 year ago next
I personally used the AWS IoT platform and created custom Alexa Skills to handle the integration.
jane123 1 year ago prev next
I used the SmartThings Hub to manage all of my devices. It made the integration process much simpler.
hackerguy 1 year ago prev next
I used a combination of the Google Home app and IFTTT applets to handle the integration.
johnsmith 1 year ago prev next
How did you all manage the security of your systems? I'm worried about the potential for hackers to access my home network.
jane123 1 year ago next
I made sure to use strong, unique passwords for all of my devices and changed them regularly.
hackerguy 1 year ago prev next
I used a VPN to secure my connection and set up firewalls to protect my network.
programboy 1 year ago prev next
I set up two-factor authentication on all of my devices and used the AWS WAF to secure my Alexa Skills.
johnsmith 1 year ago prev next
Thanks for all the great advice, everyone! I'm looking forward to getting started on my smart home project.
newbie 1 year ago prev next
What programming languages did you all use to build your systems?
jane123 1 year ago next
I used Python to create my custom Alexa Skills and control my SmartThings Hub.
programboy 1 year ago prev next
I mainly used JavaScript and Node.js to build my system. It's a very popular stack in the voice-activated smart home community.
hackerguy 1 year ago prev next
I used a blend of Python and Go to build my system. I find that Go is very fast and efficient, especially when it comes to handling real-time data streams.
newbie 1 year ago prev next
Any tips for debugging and testing my system during development?
jane123 1 year ago next
I would recommend setting up a separate testing environment and using unit tests and integration tests to catch any issues early on.
programboy 1 year ago prev next
I would also add that it's important to test your system with a wide range of devices and configurations to ensure maximum compatibility.
hackerguy 1 year ago prev next
And don't forget to use a good logging library to keep track of any errors or warnings that may occur during testing and deployment.
impresseduser 1 year ago prev next
This is such an informative thread! I'm really inspired to start building my own voice-activated smart home system now.