MisterM

I'm glad you're making progress there! I remember having problems like that with it when I was getting it to run on boot from the autostart file, turned out it would only run *without* the sudo before the python3, which sounds similar to your SSH problems. Good luck with the rest of it!

Hi Kenneth and thanks very much for sharing the useful links and your code experiences! I had similar head-scratching with PyUserInput at first but tracked it down to how I'd installed it, if I remember rightly I first installed it with "pip install PyUserInput" then got those "No Module Named ..." errors, then when I instead used "pip3 install PyUserInput" it was fine all the way, I think it's to do with the version of Python that pip and the Pi use as default. Hope that helps!

Good question - I used a lot of bits I already had, to use exactly the same things it'd probably be around £60, but I splurged on a specific speaker for the case and used the pHAT Beat, really for a basic version you just need a Pi, a webcam, button and a battery speaker so could be as little as £40-45 :)

That was an interesting test - I left it ringing until it timed out, about a minute, and the "knock knock" preview video didn't show through at all. Wondering if it would be any different with an integrated Pi camera rather than a USB webcam, will give it a try once I've got the "one box" version working.

I'll give it a go later this afternoon and reply back - curious myself now!

Thanks, it happens quite often here - I do need to work on voice operated answering in case of being both stuck and having phone out of reach!

Thanks! I love that it works pretty simply with fairly standard bits 'n pieces, good luck with your build!

I think so, yes, you'd probably need to install the Python module fswebcam but then it'd be straightforward to take a pic, just an extra few lines of code to do the capture after the button is pushed. Bit more info at https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/usage/webcams/ - what I'm not sure about is whether access to the webcam is "locked" by Google Duo (because the webcam is already selected in the Audio & Video sources) - in this case the fswebcam module might not be able to do the capture.

Thanks!

Thanks! There was no-one more surprised than me when it worked!

That's great, good luck with it! And also thanks for reminding me to update my board, that's supposed to be the ceremonial thing I do after hitting Publish :)

Excellent! I'm still looking for an oversized 1950s hairdryer to house one for the bedroom, don't think I'd get away with a tape player in there. :)

Thanks!

Not sure on the software but it must be possible to scan for network cameras, tinycam pro on my phone does it, that'd be cool. Also your comment made me think a thermal imaging camera on there would be very cool, maybe when the prices come down a bit!

Thanks! Wish I had as many home minis as I have broken cassette players!

Ah yes now you're talking! That'd be a great smart home device, a little cablecar where beers leave their chilled depot in the kitchen and circulate around the lounge overhead every so often.

Looks grear, really clean! And you're right marbles are ideal for this, probably easier to get hold of than ball bearings too!

Thanks :)

Thanks, good luck with your build!

Hey that looks great! Really like the look of it, great size as well, love that you had space to expose the usb ports, I really wanted to achieve that but it was too tight. Thanks for sharing, wish I could find one of those!

Love it!

Hey that's great, love the tilt sensor, never thought of that! Nice build and great Instructable, Happy Halloween to you too!

Thanks, willdo!

Thanks, the robot made me do it! Thrall of some kind.

Thanks yes I agree, lots of that about at the moment! Happy to hack things about if they're broken but I have a fair few things I just can't bring myself to break open.

Aha! They are normally (and have stuff crammed on top) - rejigged them for a better photo. And to include the Pi book my other projects are in!

For this build just the standard Raspberry Pi camera module, with an adaptor ribbon cable to connect it to the Pi Zero.

Apologies I forgot to annotate the images - it's literally just a pi zero, camera module and ribbon cable though. This build uses a USB wi-fi adaptor but the recent (Zero W) boards have this built in, which is handy. Power comes to the Pi via a micro USB cable, the zeros are less fussy than the full-size boards so it's just plugged into a standard USB mains adaptor. The images are normal jpeg format, and can be accessed from the web interface, it also gives the option to convert them into a timelapse video, which I've had some fun experimenting with today!

Thanks! Yes it works well, takes a bit of fiddling with settings depending if you want great reolution or smoother video - very stable though, my other one has been "up" for 3 months with no issues at all. Works just as well with a usb webcam too, which I didn't expect.

Good question! When I built it I used the 'stock' code which only had button or clap activation, but this has since been updated, the version now on github also includes the "OK Google" option. You can select which one to use by amending the python code (commented helpfully!), I'm hoping to link this up to the intercom's channel selector switch.

Congrats! Loved your instructable.

Hey congrats! Going to be walking the streets looking for abandoned umbrellas now.

Beer is definitely on the bill of materials! I'm trapped under a cat so often it would be extremely practical.

Not sure! I think I read somewhere that music can play in sync across multiple devices, which would be awesome - also being able to use it as an actual intercom between rooms would be cool.

Thanks!

Hi and thanks! I've not looked at gpio controls since doing this on Raspbmc 2 years ago so I imagine (hope) it's a lot different and simpler now, esp with Kodi being so popular.

That would be awesome! It could even have its own Glow Cloud!

Top idea, thanks! I'd not considered airplay at all as we have no apple stuff, was barely aware of it! But I'll definitely give it a go now you've prompted me to look into it a bit more, thanks again.

Sounds great, especially with a Pi Zero, I got my first one recently and couldn't believe the (lack of) size! Mine only makes the ringtone sound when it boots up, which is just as well as it tends to make people jump. It should be fairly easy to amend the code though if you want it to ring every time, just copy the os.system('mpg123 -q {}1sec.mp3 {}hello.mp3'.format(path, path)) line of code and paste it underneath one of the GPIO code bits that controls the LEDs, depending whether you want it to ring before or after Alexa's response. Good luck with it!

Thanks, I never thought of that! I am on a but of a quest to try different kinds of illumination! Happened to find this on the way home...

Really good and interesting thoughts, thank you! I meant to put out a torch the other night to attract the moths as you say - took me a while to dig one out with a 'normal' bulb (opinion seems split whether they like LEDs or not), I'll definitely give varied illumination a go, I read recently if there's a pool of light then they like to feed around the outside of it. With the IR light its almost like watching an underwater video, totally dark until something pops out, the local cat and a web-spinning spider close up have really made me jump recently. The bats are the stars though!

That's good to know, thanks!

I'm just worried it's not eeeevillllll enough!

It was awesome fun to build and there are so many different camera examples online! Fingers crossed for an even better pi camera at some point in the future.