Having a smart home has been a dream I have had since 2003. My head was always briming with smart home ideas. A home that pays attention to us - who wouldn't want that? (Clearly I was an attention seeker. And still is.)
My first Arduino set arrived in 2010, and it opened up a whole new world for me. For the first time, I was venturing into electronics, getting my hands dirty, on my own volition (and interest.) Code and breadboard electronics let me control LEDs, buzzers, motors, etc. Smart home systems were costly back then, so I toyed with the idea of developing smart home modules targeted to hobbyist - low cost and low reliability but highly educational.
Alas - smart home requires much more than just LEDs, buzzers and motors. I didn't have the required skills, and life distractions got in the way.
Fast forward to 2017. I joined [Melbourne Raspberry Pi Hackers] (https://www.meetup.com/Melbourne-Raspberry-Jam/) and found out about Node-red and it intrigued me. Cloud technology is so accessible and Google has released their Voice Assistant SDK. I have picked up some skills and knowledge over the years, so now's a good time to get started. If I have to burn down my house, better do it while I'm young.
With this thought in mind, I decided to dust off a Raspberry Pi B+ from my store and boot it to live. Coupled with some ESP8266 modules that I have bought in the past, I decided to get my hands dirty once again.
Here is where I journal my road down the dirty, dirty adventures that I've had with Node-reed. Most of the contents are expected to be NSFI (Not safe for industry) and involves OTBT (off-the-beaten-track) practices that would make quality control engineers weep professional tears.
But hey, some of us learn by making mistakes.