The Google Home integration has recently been added. It’s far from perfect (just a start/stop button and whether it’s in its base), but they might add more functionalities later.
For now, we can use Google Assistant SDK integration to add the device to Home Assistant I guess.
I’m very much a home assistant newbie though I’ve had a smart home for more years than I can count and have used a Hubitat for the last few years as part of my smart home system. I just want to pass along how I have integrated a Narwal Freo X Plus with my Hubitat as I expect something very similar could be done with Home Assistant.
The Freo X Plus has limited integration with Alexa. You can start it on a cleaning mission and tell it to stop and return to the base station. I haven’t found a way to obtain a status update when the robot is finished cleaning.
Based on this, I created a virtual contact sensor on the Hubitat and integrated that with Alexa. This allows me to trigger an Alexa routine when the contact sensor is programatically closed on the Hubitat. Then the Alexa routine I use simply starts the Narwal on a cleaning mission. I run the Narwal once a week when the house becomes unoccupied so the robot cleans when nobody is home.
To detect when the Narwal is finished cleaning (fortunately, cleaning the main floor of my home can be done without recharging), I have glued a magnet to the Narwal. Then I attached a magnetic contact sensor to the base station and wired it to the input on a Shelly device. This provides a trigger when the Narwal finishes cleaning and returns to the charging station.
It is a bit of a Kludge but it does reliably work. I hope this helps other people who want to integrate the Narwal.
Thanks
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I’m considering getting one of the new Narwal Freo Z Ultra robots, this one looks great with it’s AI features, actually spot mopping areas and returning to dock to self-clean before continuing. But the lack of integration with HASS is holding me back. Anyone know if there’s something in the works?
Not quite, unfortunately. In theory you can launch it with an Alexa command pushed through an “Alexa Media Player” HACS integration. However, I would at least prefer to know if the robot is docked or no, before pushing the command, and as of now, I didn’t find a way to overcome this. Alexa routines don’t recognize Freo Z Ultra as a trigger, so I can’t change a state of a helper from Alexa. Google Home does… But the routines never trigger, regardless if the automation should be triggered by the robot turning on/off or docking/undocking.
Someone mentioned gluing a magnet to the robot and using a contact sensor, but that’s not a perfect solution.
i also own one. would love an integration!
Hello everyone,
Like many of you, I am very interested in integrating the Narwal Freo Z Ultra robot with Home Assistant. I recently exchanged a few emails with Narwal support, explaining the importance of releasing public APIs, not only for users but also for the Home Assistant community.
Unfortunately, their response was disappointing and lacking in information. Essentially, they informed me that the API cannot be released due to commercial reasons, and they do not appear to be willing to consider our requests. They mentioned that Alexa, Siri, and soon Google Home will be integrated, but this does not meet our need for a true public API. They also mentioned that they would forward my request to the technical team, but I remain skeptical about any potential future developments.
Here is the content of their reply:
Sharon (Support)
[email protected]
Davide Bevilacqua
Dear customer,
Thank you for contacting Narwal.
We apologize for the delay in our response due to an increase in email requests.
Regarding your API request,
we regret to inform you that the API cannot be released to the public for commercial reasons. We ask for your understanding.
Alexa and Siri are currently available, and Google Home will soon be available for integration.
We will forward your user experience and concerns to our technicians, so that more integration options may be available in the future.
Their response came after almost a month (from October 26, 2024, to November 18, 2024), which also indicates the quality of their support.
If any of you are interested in working on an unofficial project to integrate the robot with Home Assistant, I am available and willing to collaborate in the coming months.
I hope to receive some positive feedback. In the meantime, I wish everyone happy and automatic home cleaning!
Good Home Assistant to all of you!
W Home Assistant!