Next steps - advice on devices etc

Configuration
1

Hi All,

Currently I am using Hass.io to automate the usual lights etc. and i manage it all through the IOS app and Web UI.

I am looking to start moving towards a fully automated setup for the family. Below are what I am looking to do:

  • Voice control (turn on the lights, aircon etc.)
  • Voice feedback & notifications (Alarms, reminders)
  • House state monitoring (Temps in rooms, presence in rooms, Open doors and windows) along with voice feedback and push notifications if say a window is opened when it shouldn’t be (no one at home, middle of the night. etc).
  • If possible, control based on who is speaking (EG: "Turn on my lights "results in the bedroom lights for the person speaking being turned on)
  • Central control point (Tablet or R-PI with touch screen) showing the Web UI.

Some notes, we are an apple device household (Macs, IPhones, Apple TV, and IPads), so it would be nice to keep any new devices to the Apple range but I would happily move out of the apple family if I can get better ease of use for the wife and kids and the config and maintenance is hassle free.

What devices should I be looking at that to cover these various asks? I am a technical person so am very comfortable doing the config in yaml, git pulls, flashing firmware, etc. but I would prefer more plug and play with supported integrations in Hass.io.

Any advice or feedback based on experience would be great.

2

May I suggest Google Assistant speakers/displays. They offer per-room device control. So I can say “turn off light” in the living room without specifying which light. Google won’t turn off my upstairs light. It also does person recognision, but this feature is more for music/calendars, person info doesn’t get fed back to HA.
We are also an Apple devices household. But Apple doesn’t have any low cost speakers. So I bought Google mini’s. Homekit can still be used for the few places without voice assistant speaker.

On presense detect. There are 2 ways to go about this.
-Motion sensor, not accurate and could mistaken sitting down individuals as not moving. But very easy to setup, just stick it up anywhere.
-Presence sensor via bluetooth. Can be more accurate, but requires a bit more effort and need powered devices at strategic locations.
We went with motion sensors and contact sensors for the doors. Works okay as long as limitations are kept in mind while writing automations.

For central control point, I’m trying to use Lenovo smart display in the kitchen as off-the-shelf solution, which has Google assistant built-in. Using the HA Chromecast lovelace views feature. But up to version 0.102, it wasn’t working well. Haven’t tried it recently.