I am completely new to Home Assistant and am in the “can I do this” phase. I’m planning to build a setup for a friend that is severely physically handicapped. She has very limited motor control, so things like large buttons are very important. The plan it to build a Raspberry pi with a 7" touchscreen mounted to her bed. She can barely speak, so voice control is out of the question.
I plan to use wifi device controls for lights, outlets, etc. I also want to integrate the basic controls for a Roku TV and an LG Thinq-enabled AC. If possible, I would like to be able to send preprogrammed or typed messages to specific people (“I need something to drink”, “I’m hungry”, etc).
Looking at the demo, I saw that things like the light switch is a slide-switch. Are there any other ways to do it, so it has a large icon/square to just switch directly between on & off?
Honestly, the more I look into it, finding things like TTS, SMS, etc, this is definitely the best way to go.
So, like I said in the beginning, the most important thing is her interface. Large, easy to use buttons is the major issue.
Probably much simpler to use the companion app on a tablet or phone (an old one will do - I have several wall mounted tablets running Android 7 which work perfectly well) then the RPi can be tucked out of harm’s way.
Pre-prepared messages can be sent on the same network using the notify service (at the press of an on-screen button, say). I have an old Android phone to receive them which uses the Automate app to convert them into normal SMS messages to be sent to people further afield.
You might consider subscribing to one of the many emergency alert services. I don’t think any of them can be integrated with Home Assistant directly, but again the notify service can send a message to the mobile and the mobile can activate the service. Make sure you choose one which does not require voice confirmation of the SOS - this can be quite difficult to implement.
I have several physical buttons near the floor at possible fall points which send an SOS when pressed; also a “dead man’s switch” which sends an SOS if I am home but no movement has been detected for 24 hours. (No, I’m not quite that old, but it was an interesting lockdown project.)
I would strongly urge you, however, not to put too much faith in technology in caring for your friend. There’s no substitute for a real person.
