Monitoring People in a house

[rcjordan]

> motion is not detected in key rooms

Add a couple of strategically-located pushbuttons as 'call boxes' and you have the routine checking and summoning covered, but that doesn't address the home invasion issue.

>the down and dirty
>Tasker

I was thinking about IFTTT, too.

[Brad]

Related:

Safe and Sound app and other anti-kidnap apps.  Not really relevant to in-home but related to personal safety.

[rcjordan]

Back some time ago, I was brainstorming with a tech/programmer about an 'early warning' security system using a sequential if-then perimeter sensor system.  That was on the old X10 transmit-over-house-wiring technology.  Still seems like a good idea when powered by, say, an rpi doing some simple logic.

http://www.smarthome.com/sensors-security/occupancy/perimeter-sensors.html

[JasonD]

I think we may be over complicating it.

We're presuming the person is mobile and looks after themselves, which is the case otherwise they wouldn't be home alone. The issue is they are potentially frail and could be incapacitated for a time, whether it be illness, a fall or worse.

So.... we need to record time periods between actions and if the time period is too long, do something...

As such a simple "Internet button" and IFTT or Zapier etc is all we really need.

The person would need to train themselves that when they go to the kitchen, toilet or whatever place is best for them, they press the button. 

We would have a timer running that starts on a button press that does something after a predetermined time. Possibly 4 hours during daytime, possibly 10 hours at night time. (Obviously configurable for the user's normal actions and routine)

When the button is pressed it sends that "ping" to a script via IFTT, Zapier or otherwise and then reset our timer. As long as the button is pressed, it will aways reset and hence no alarm.

Of course we can choose what to do when the timer runs out and it could be an email, an automated phone call (to whoever, playing a recorded mp3 message etc) automated SMS etc etc etc.

None of that would be a big deal to create and the cheapest option would be the Amazon Dash buttons but can easily be done with a Particle or similar - https://www.particle.io/button

N.B. Just found out ...... Amazon seem to be preparing to launch their Dash buttons to be used by devs as basic IOT devices. They're giving them away as swag and have a competition to get great ideas running with them using AWS services.

I personally think this is a brilliant idea for them however I can't get my hands on one. Do any of you have access and we can submit it?

https://aws.amazon.com/iot/button/

http://hackaday.com/2015/10/11/amazon-giving-out-sort-of-hackable-amazon-dash-button/

[rcjordan]

>The person would need to train themselves that when they go to the kitchen, toilet or whatever place is best for them, they press the button. 

It just ain't going to happen, Jason. Elders won't even carry their damn phones with them around the house or out in the garden. Well, not until they've fallen off the porch and have to crawl back up the steps. (My brother's mother-in-law).

[rcjordan]

<added>

Just remembered (and my mom's condo neighbor)

[JasonD]

> Elders won't even carry their damn phones with them around the house or out in the garden

OK, agreed. So we need to have a passive device. A motion detector that does the same thing as mentioned above

Just need to find a programmable camera ThingymajobWhatsitHoojamaflipDibdab that can ping things - on a hunt

[JasonD]

OK ...... Simple and cheap device that has the option to send emails each time the passive infra red is tripped.

Get the emails sent to a dedicated email account. Link that email account to Zapier (as mentioned in an earlier post I did) and then do the action if no email received during certain time periods.

Hence no need to look at the images (although they're there if required) and action only happens when no new movement is detected.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Belkin-Netcam-Detection-Android-Devices/dp/B00BCIRYGM

[rcjordan]

>look at images

While I think that cams will give us the easier solution, mostly because that's the trend and where the marketing volume is, it needs to trigger a non-image event and alert.  Even then, it's going to take some convincing to assure your mom that The Facebook Crowd can't see her.

[JasonD]

The above works on non images. It is purely the passive infra red firing off an action, which happens to be emailing an image (Which we won't look at), and the non action of no emails being received is what we want.

Ideally we simply want an internet connected PIR detector. No need for the camera in all honesty.

[JasonD]

I'm pretty sure this will be an easy task for an Arduino. I own some, but never done anything with them.

let me look into it, and maybe buy an old fashioned paper book thingy!

[JasonD]

We have a winner!

$39 Internet connected PIR detector

http://store.wirelesstag.net/products/pir-kumosensor

it needs the Ethernet Tag manager (hub for all these devices) to operate http://store.wirelesstag.net/products/ethernet-tag-manager at $49

and they have loads of other monitoring things. Importantly it allows us to fire off an action if NOTHING happens, and also integrates directly into IFTTT https://ifttt.com/wirelesstag

I'm going to read up some more but this looks good.

[Rupert]

you Guys are priceless thanks  

posting inside, where I feel more comfortable.

[JasonD]

NP Rupert.

BTW I've ordered some of the wirelesstags.net devices. They look amazing and I am sure will be fun to play with.

I am also going to get into some Arduino learning as I do think it could do it. I need a hobby and this is more me, than going to the gym

[ergophobe]

That's a pretty amazing system.

For Rupert, there's this

This is a the code for the KumoApp "Send push when no motion is detected for x minute".

http://www.wirelesstag.net/kumoapp

For a vacation rental where people insist on leaving the door open for 1.5 hours while they pack up the car even though it's 25F (-4C)

"When any of the window or door is opened, turn off AC/heat."

I am still waiting for the base unit for my Insteon system, but I probably would have gone for this one if I had seen it first - slightly cheaper, but seems more powerful and the units are smaller.

[update] looks like I'm not left out having bought some Insteon stuff

Custom URL calling allows you to integrate our product with Web service (REST endpoint) enabled home automation systems such as Insteon/ISY by Universal Devices. For example, you can turn on a light when door is opened, or motion is detected. In another example, you can turn off every light at your home when a tag (that may be attached to your key chain) is out of range.

http://store.wirelesstag.net/blogs/news/6538037-production-update-new-features-added