There’s a new player in the home automation space: Home Assistant Voice. It’s a more private solution, not connected to Google or Amazon. You can make one yourself, but it’ll probably cost you more. If you’re interested, you can find Home Assistant Voice through the link.
What I like about it:
It’s completely isolated from the internet, meaning anything you ask it to do or request will never leave your home (unless you choose to share it). Personally, I run the entire system in-house. I use a Raspberry Pi to run the Home Assistant software and a desktop computer to handle the LLM for the voice assistant.
With Home Assistant, you can control all of your IoT devices. For example, if you have a smart TV, you can turn it on or off. You can play music, set timers, and more.
The main reason I decided to get one is that my wife wanted a device that could play music or set a timer. I didn’t want to use an Amazon Alexa or Google Home since those devices share data with their parent companies. Initially, I thought about creating something with a Raspberry Pi, but it ended up being much more expensive than any other market solution (definitely not cost-effective). Then I saw a video about this product, which integrates seamlessly with Home Assistant, something I was already using. It was a game-changer, and I finally got my hands on it since I had pre-ordered it. The setup was simple.
But then, the biggest issue arose: how do you give it access to something like Spotify so that when you say, “Hey, Jarvis! Play classical music,” it actually plays music through its speakers? Since Home Assistant is open-source and many developers create add-ons, I found something called Music Assistant. It allows you to sync your Spotify account and use your playlists.
After adding the playlists I usually listen to, I was ready to go. Of course, since this is all internal, I had to set up automations. For example, when I say “Play classical,” the voice assistant opens Music Assistant and plays my classical playlist.
All in all, it’s a great product, and if you care about privacy, I’d definitely recommend it. However, if you’re someone who doesn’t like troubleshooting or tinkering, Home Assistant Voice may not be for you. This isn’t a plug-and-play product; it’s meant for tinkerers and hobbyists who can troubleshoot and create their own automations or scripts to get the most out of it.
