project.ARIS

(Aural Response Intelligent System)

project.ARIS is an self-contained, internet-connected, hands-free Smart Home Hub which is implemented using open source software, IoT protocols and managed by a web app. This may feel similar in terms of functionality to the many smart speakers already available like the Amazon Echo and the Google Home but unlike these devices, project.ARIS differs in the sense that it’s a Home Automation Hub first and foremost.

Current State of Smart Home Systems: In order to set-up a complete “Smart Home”, the user is required to choose a Hardware & Software Ecosystem like Apple’s HomeKit, Google Home, etc. The user now, has to carefully select and purchase only the appliances and products that support the said Home Automation ecosystem. To tie it all together, the user has to purchase a separate Home Automation Hub device.

project.ARIS aims to solve this very problem by integrating several Home Automation protocols into an Open Source, Voice-activated, compact hub.

Role:
Coding, UI/UX & Branding.

Construction: The Hardware consists of a “DIY-style” kit built using a Raspberry Pi, a USB microphone, an AUX-In Speaker, an IR LED and cables, all packed together using recycled cardboard. It’s power efficient too, as it draws it’s power from a standard 5V / 2A phone charger.

    • project.ARIS can control everything in a house (theoretically), from regular old IR to network control to HDMI-CEC. And it can use them all together: it might send a power-on signal over CEC, click through the interface using IR, and then pass a deep link to an app using an API.

    • project.ARIS - companion app : The app serves up a visual interface for the ARIS hub. Ask ARIS to turn off the lights from your phone. See who’s at the front door. Turn up the volume and more. Control things remotely (& discreetly) without switching between apps. The app consists of a vertical feed of all the currently active devices, energy stats and the ARIS Hub status. All the essentials of a smart home in one screen, with quick access toggles for the currently active or recently used devices.

    App Paradigms : A Space is a room of appliances essentially, grouped together by the app as a unit. There are different Spaces for all the different rooms in the house. For example, all the Living Room smart devices are grouped together as a single Space, which the user can control as whole, if needed. The rooms in a house aren’t single-purpose; then why treat it as such? Therefore, Spaces can be further organized into SubSpaces, which represent the different areas of the same room, which serve a slightly different purpose. For example, the “Entertainment Center” SubSpace is within the “Living Room” Space.