DIY smart doorbell

bob b

Hi all, looking for some help and Google is not really coming up with much. Over the lockdown I have been playing around with DIY smart projects and one that I would like to do is a smart doorbell for our cat...this maybe cabin fever talking too.

So my idea is a pir sensor wired up to an esp8266 and mounted by the front door. when the sensor detects motion (the cat), our Alexa can announce that the cat wants to come in. There are plenty of ways to hack the echo to make it read out a sensor (eg temperature or humidity) or open a switch, communication the other way appears to be missing on Google. I had thought of mqqt approach but that is stretching my coding ability and there must be a simpler way around this??? Anyone have any ideas how to DIY a "ring doorbell" for pets?!

Cheers!

gonker

bob b wrote: »

Hi all, looking for some help and Google is not really coming up with much. Over the lockdown I have been playing around with DIY smart projects and one that I would like to do is a smart doorbell for our cat...this maybe cabin fever talking too.

So my idea is a pir sensor wired up to an esp8266 and mounted by the front door. when the sensor detects motion (the cat), our Alexa can announce that the cat wants to come in. There are plenty of ways to hack the echo to make it read out a sensor (eg temperature or humidity) or open a switch, communication the other way appears to be missing on Google. I had thought of mqqt approach but that is stretching my coding ability and there must be a simpler way around this??? Anyone have any ideas how to DIY a "ring doorbell" for pets?!

Cheers!

I am sorry I have no idea how to do this but I love the concept 😂😂

Rows Grower

Get a dog Bob, or a barking cat.

bob b

Rows Grower wrote: »

Get a dog Bob, or a barking cat.

He he, is a barking cat a new Alexa skill🀣🀣

kenmc

bob b wrote: »

Hi all, looking for some help and Google is not really coming up with much. Over the lockdown I have been playing around with DIY smart projects and one that I would like to do is a smart doorbell for our cat...this maybe cabin fever talking too.

So my idea is a pir sensor wired up to an esp8266 and mounted by the front door. when the sensor detects motion (the cat), our Alexa can announce that the cat wants to come in. There are plenty of ways to hack the echo to make it read out a sensor (eg temperature or humidity) or open a switch, communication the other way appears to be missing on Google. I had thought of mqqt approach but that is stretching my coding ability and there must be a simpler way around this??? Anyone have any ideas how to DIY a "ring doorbell" for pets?!

Cheers!

Have had similar idea in the past. Used to have a catflap until moved to a much more airtight house - wasn't going to be going cutting holes in my lovely new triple glazed patio doors!

Didn't really come up with a very usable solution - PIR sensor would be triggered by everyone going in or out, which would be annoying most likely. Had thought about some sensor under the mat - she typically sits on a mat in front of the sidelight window, looking and scowling when we finally notice her! That would be less likely to falsely trigger with humans walking in and out, as it's not somewhere typically stood on.

MQTT would totally be the way I'd set it up though to be honest - mqtt message to openhab and can get email notification, push to android even, and even TextToSpeach to google and probably others - i've never bothered trying that - could get it to blink a light or something too.

If you put MQTT/openhab in place (raspberry pi, cheap as) then you could also put a block-out timer so that you only get a notification every X minutes, not everytime the cat moves around off and back on the mat - unless of course you want the cat to be able to annoy you from outside like they do inside too

edit: since you mentioned ESP8266, then I guess you're familiar with them; and tasmota and espeasy? both of them are capable of running on an ESP chip and sending mqtt messages when a sensor triggers, very little coding involved at all besides some configuration items around the gpio pins etc.

Wouldn't it be great if we could train them to press a little doorbell and mount it down low for them

wexfordman2

What about an RFID tag in the collar ?

Or how about an RFID tag in the actual cat��

kenmc

There are some catflaps which use RFID to control access only to correct cats. Would be an option, if cat wears collar (mine doesn't, got fed up replacing them every couple weeks when lost) and if could guarantee they'd be close enough to the reader to activate

RFID in the cat is a microchip - again some catflaps use this for access control too!

bob b

kenmc wrote: »

There are some catflaps which use RFID to control access only to correct cats. Would be an option, if cat wears collar (mine doesn't, got fed up replacing them every couple weeks when lost) and if could guarantee they'd be close enough to the reader to activate

RFID in the cat is a microchip - again some catflaps use this for access control too!

Thanks for all the ideas for sensing, there really are many ways to skin a cat ....

the biggest problem I have found is getting Alexa to do as she is asked. I have found a route via tasker to intercept push notifications on Android (https://youtu.be/N3twlZqJ2BY) and even directly connecting a zigbee motion sensor to an echo+ (https://youtu.be/Oe0--G0PTqM), but that is too easy for my timeline. It got me thinking if I can emulate a WeMo plug - that would get it recognised by the Alexa app and I can then build a routine around the "switch". Or maybe via IFFT and webhooks.

I won't be going back to work for a while so plenty of time to tinker. I do love the idea of the cats microchip triggering the announcement though. So cool.

Thanks all.

xckjoo

If your cat will wear a collar I'd definitely go down the route of a sensor on it. Or else set up a camera and develop a facial recognition system for your cat. Would probably get you a fairly lucrative career out of it too!

kenmc

bob b wrote: »

Thanks for all the ideas for sensing, there really are many ways to skin a cat ....

the biggest problem I have found is getting Alexa to do as she is asked. I have found a route via tasker to intercept push notifications on Android (https://youtu.be/N3twlZqJ2BY) and even directly connecting a zigbee motion sensor to an echo+ (https://youtu.be/Oe0--G0PTqM), but that is too easy for my timeline. It got me thinking if I can emulate a WeMo plug - that would get it recognised by the Alexa app and I can then build a routine around the "switch". Or maybe via IFFT and webhooks.

I won't be going back to work for a while so plenty of time to tinker. I do love the idea of the cats microchip triggering the announcement though. So cool.

Thanks all.

I researched the microchip before, I believe it's not "normal" that can be read with a hobby RFID reader:( would be cool though.

kenmc

xckjoo wrote: »

If your cat will wear a collar I'd definitely go down the route of a sensor on it. Or else set up a camera and develop a facial recognition system for your cat. Would probably get you a fairly lucrative career out of it too!

Some lad did essentially that: "facial" recognition to only let the cat into the cat flap when it wasn't bearing "gifts"

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/technology-48825761

ozmo

You could gut the insides of one of these:
https://www.tomsguide.com/us/use-amazon-echo-buttons,news-28510.html

They are alexa buttons - all set up to get alexa do something when you press it - you just need to provide the method to make the contact - pressure pad or PIR.

Maybe its possible to find an ESP32 emulation of them?