Using mycroft on a voice activated lock

General Discussion
1

Hi there, first time user here.
I am a computer science first year student at the University of Texas at Tyler, and I’m attempting to do a Mycroft-based project in which a bolt lock will engage and disengage with a voice command. My brother is a mechanical engineer, so I don’t need advice on the actual lock part, but only the programming portion. Here is the procedure:

1- The user will adress the lock to activate its listening skill: “Lock”
2- The user will use a passphrase to unlock it with the sentence: “Password is xyz”
3- The raspberry pi, or whatever microcomputer we use, will send a command to the electric motor to unlock the door
4- When the user is ready to lock the door, they will use another command such as “Lock, bolt thine self.”

I’ve coded in mycroft before, but nothing to this extent and I could certainly use some guidance.
Thanks!

2

That seems like a fun project.

Look for examples using the GPIO on the Raspberrypi. That can turn on and of or control a stepmoter or whatever the lock uses.

You can maybe find some examples of skills using GPIO on the Mycroft Skills List I am working on located here https://andlo.github.io/mycroft-skills-list//

And remember that electronic locks do exists alreddy, and many of those do have zwave, BT or other way to control them. Often they are used in homeautomations system like homeassistant. but such locks are not cheap….I would love to have one though.

3

Thats very helpful! Thank you! I’ll send you the finalized code (if its successful), maybe you can save some money on some pricey lock.

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4

For anything else than a proof of concept this is a bad idea - everybody who overhears you speaking the password phrase will be able to unlock your door when you are not around. In case this is a project for an university class I would clearly address this as a security issue.

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5

I agree, this only a fun christmas engineering project.

6

We also have a demo gpio Skill at;

Feel free to join us in the Skills chatroom in Mycroft Chat as well.

Best wishes for your project!

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