Lights like "Harry Potter" univers

[thin garden]

I'm working on a home automation project to control three outdoor lighting circuits using voice commands. I’ve chosen to use Shelly 1 modules (one per circuit) to switch the lights on and off. These modules are connected via WiFi and can be controlled through HTTP requests.

The goal is to create a fully offline voice assistant that listens for specific commands like “Lumos” (to turn on the lights) and “Nox” (to turn them off), inspired by the Harry Potter universe. I plan to run this assistant either on a Raspberry Pi or a Windows-based mini PC, depending on ease of setup and long-term reliability. In my side, I've got a Synology server and it can be important 🙂

Currently it's a difficult project for me. But maybe someone here did this kind of project ?
Is this project is possible ?
Do I have to go on raspberry or mini PC ?
Let me know your point of view 🙂

[kind apex]

mini PC but ditch windows and install either HAOS directly or via proxmox - My hardware selection notes

shelly devices intergrate with home assistant out the box and work great.

as for specific wake words for voice assistant. this is a little bit more complex and simpler words (such as nox) are going to have alot of false positives.

it would be easier to have it set to be wakeword command so would be something like "okay nabu lumos" but i guess that would not feel quite right?

you could also make a "wand" which you can hold, activate by movement so you could erm "swish"? to activate its mic to then issue a command. would need to ensure its charged though

i remember seeing some videos a while ago where people used wands with IR blasters in them and could point them at devices to switch them on

[fickle wind]

You can do it in a very MaGiC way.

If you have an Assist device (eg. the Home Assistant Voice Preview Edition), you can have an automation that "starts a conversation", allowing you to skip the "Ok Nabu" and go straight to the "Lumos".

action: assist_satellite.start_conversation
data:
 start_message: ''
target:
 area_id: outdoor

If you have the HA voice prevew ed. in the area named "outdoor", this will emit an announce sound and starts listening to you.
Just say "Lumos", and I hope you've already configured this word to actually do what you want.

The issue is... How to activate it? If this action is started from an automation, the automation needs a trigger. I can think of a presence sensor in the garden, but it's a bad idea for several reason.

So.. it's practically possible to activate an Assist device without actually saying a Wake Word. The issue is the When

[kind apex]

oooo a blank start conversation. that's a cool idea. means you need an llm attached but it would work.

a "wand" that triggers it by ble or something could work and have a much longer battery than one with a mic in it

could maybe use a camera with gesture detection to activate it too but at that point you might as well just use a wakeword

[fickle wind]

It seems that magic has limits too 😆 This question got me curious and I tested it on my Assist device. It works. But I don't use "Lumos". A simple "turn off the light" did what it was supposed to do.
I like the wand. The button on it can send a request to HA and start this action. Then according to what's passed with the voice it'll do it.
Another issue can be the Mic on the Assist. But that's for another magic.

[snow mesa]

Another cool approach to making it look like magic would be to use frigate or another camera based recognition tool to recognize a wand or to see you moving your arms in a certain way to activate the magic.

[thin garden]

Yes, Nox can be a problem. But if we add words, it might make the whole thing not very nice :S
The wand is a good idea, but it adds another component to something that isn't already simple for me. But I'm keeping the idea! It would add some magic!

Thank you so much for all these answers. I will try to find the best solution and get started on the project quickly (purchase of equipment, testing, etc.). I wonder, after reading you, if the best solution would not be to have 3 presence detectors that activate listening, and to use the words Lumos and Nox. Maybe the "x" in Nox will help avoid false positives? ^^

[kind apex]

shorter words with less syllables are always going to have false positive issues

[thin garden]

Ok 🙂
For you what should be the good way to do this project ? (Tools, ... ? )

[kind apex]

realistically having a wakeword for the VA is going to be the most stable way of doing stuff. but you could also have the "wand" idea for when your feeling... erm... magical?