Start your car with Alexa - cheaply!

Описание: I wanted a way to be able to tell Amazon Alexa to turn on my car. I believe this is the cheapest way to do it without tearing apart your remote starter key fob or needing an electrical engineering degree.

I purchased a Microbot Push, which is a bluetooth remote physical button pusher. I'm using this device to literally push the start button on my car's remote starter key fob. I built a cradle for it out of a small piece of wood and a decora light switch cover. (one of the screwless kinds for a cleaner look) I put a little rubber bumper on the key fob to make it easier for the Push to do it's job.

This project is using IFTTT as a go between the Microbot Push and Alexa. You'll need a free account at https://ifttt.com/ to get this to work.

In order for the Microbot Push to talk to IFTTT, you will also need a Prota Hub. You can either buy the Prota S hub, which is a finished product sold by the same company as the Microbot or they offer the OS as an img to install on a Raspberry Pi. This was the route I took simply for the challenge (and it's cheaper!) However, I will say, the ProtaPi seems to run very sluggishly. Set up is not trivial either. You don't need to know how to code, but using the mobile app to configure the hub is a major pain. If the $$ doesn't matter, I'd probably recommend the Prota S hub.

Additionally, I use SmartThings as my home automation system. Not only did I want to integrate this project into that in some way, but I wanted to literally say the words, "Alexa, turn on the car." I created a virtual switch in SmartThings called "Car." SmartThings is not needed to make this work however.

So here's how everything talks to each other.

"Alexa, turn on the car, please."
Alexa - SmartThings - IFTTT - ProtaPi - Microbot - Key fob - Car

It seems like a lot of steps, but there is surprisingly low latency. Consistently getting about as much as the video above shows.

Note: You do not need Smartthings for this. You can simply use IFTTT directly since there is a native Alexa channel. This requires the use of the word "trigger" to kick off an action. I imagine it probably shaves some time off of the response as well.

"Alexa, trigger the car, please."
Alexa - IFTTT - ProtaPi - Microbot - Key fob - Car

Would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

And here are links to buy the stuff used in this project:
Amazon Echo: http://amzn.to/2rRV8R5 - $180
or
Amazon Echo Dot:: http://amzn.to/2sJh6WH - $50

Smartthings Hub: http://amzn.to/2sZGVkw - $100 (optional)

Microbot Push: http://amzn.to/2rRxAMo - $50

Prota S Hub: http://amzn.to/2s1ReHD - $90
or
Raspberry Pi 3: http://amzn.to/2sJ1ylI - $35 - with Prota Pi OS: https://prota.info/prota/pi/

Decora light Switch cover: http://amzn.to/2skkvxK - $5