DIY smart home accessory – It all started with a question to ChatGPT

Few months ago, we bought a sculpture from a local art fair for our Palm Desert house. We found a great spot for it in the hallway but it bothered me that it was not properly lit. I wanted to put a small LED light behind it. Unfortunately, that spot doesn’t have a power socket.

So I asked ChatGPT: “Is there a battery-powered, Matter-supporting, Apple SmartKit-enabled LED accessory I could buy?”. I wanted to be able to control the LED via my smart home automation to minimize the number of times a human needed to reach behind the sculpture to turn the device on/off, reducing the chances of an accident.

The conversation with ChatGPT lasted a while and led to a decision to build the device on my own. ChatGPT listed the exact components I needed to buy for an Arduino-based solution. It gave me the step-by-step instructions and even wrote the program for the integration.

After the pieces arrived, I took a photograph of them and asked ChatGPT to confirm that I had everything I needed. It recognized everything and confirmed that I was ready to start putting things together.

30-40mins later, everything was in place and my little DIY device does exactly what I wanted. It cost about $400. Most of the cost is a very good battery (Anker Prime Power Bank, 26,250mAh) so that I can operate the light for months through my Apple smart home automation without having to worry about recharging.

And voila!

2 responses to “DIY smart home accessory – It all started with a question to ChatGPT”

  1. Russ Arun

    Wow. I had a similar art piece (a painting) in our basement and just got a battery LED light with a remote control that goes above the art piece and it is not controlled by Google Home (the automation I use). I should see if I can pull off what you did

    1. Most likely yours is a much more reasonable and less costly solution but I had fun with my dyi project. It was a good distraction from my startup work. Btw… I should give you an update on my progress, if you are still interested.

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