Home Automation and Accessibility with Jabberwocky
We’re so thrilled to be able to share this video from Jabberwocky user Jim Greaves. Jim has ALS and is paralyzed from the shoulders down. So, he's designed an incredible home automation/accessibility setup where he controls his TV, recliner, heating, bipap machine, and more, using only a *few inches* of head movement. If you haven’t yet seen the amazing video he put together, please drop everything and watch it here now!
For anyone curious about some of the various home automation and accessibility technologies in the video, here are some details to help you get started:
1. Control your device with Jabberwocky
So first things first, to control a device with head movement, you’ll need the right software. We’re incredibly proud of the improvements we made with the recent Jabberwocky 2.0 update, and it’s never been easier to do anything on a phone or tablet with very little head movement. It runs on nearly all Android devices, get it here!
2. Home Automation Hardware
In order to control your home with your device, you’ll need your home to be able to listen. Fortunately there are many options today for amenities controlled wirelessly.
For TV, light bulbs, thermostat, or heater, there are products that support wireless access and come equipped with everything you need. You buy the product, install an app, and you are ready to go!
TV: Most smart TVs today are ready to be controlled by your device with an app (for example, the Roku TV in this video, but Google/Fire/Apple TV works too).
Light bulbs: You can get smart light bulbs that screw into a standard fixture and are controlled by Wi-Fi, such as these Kasa Smart bulbs controlled by this app.
Thermostat: You can get a Google Nest and control it with this app. There are many other options here if you want to shop around!
Space heater: This space heater can be easily controlled from your phone.
If you have products that don’t support wireless access, you may have to be a little more creative. In some cases such as Jim’s heater in the video, you can use a universal infrared remote.
Other cases, like with Jim’s recliner, are a pretty involved effort with some custom electrical work and some smart switches. That’s outside of the scope of this article, but if you’re interested in more details about what he's built, please let us know!
3. Google Home and Google Action Blocks (Advanced)
Google has really been upping their game in accessibility over the last few years! Coupled with home automation tech it is now possible to perform many actions on a properly-wired smart home.
Once you have devices installed and working you can set up "routines" in Google Home such as changing your lights at a certain time of day.
Google Action Blocks are like specialized shortcuts for your phone. You can make buttons on your home screen that correspond to many different actions on your phone. It could be "call Mom" or "turn off lights"...and there are many more possibilities.
We hope this gives you some ideas in building accessible home automation. Is there anything we missed you'd like to hear more about? Let us know!