Do you also wake up sweating during those hot summer nights, but you are too lazy to get out of bed to turn a fan on? Using serverless with Firebase Cloud Functions, Google Assistant, a Raspberry Pi and a bit of wiring I turned my old fan in a state of the art fan with voice control. Now I enjoy the luxury of no longer having to get up to turn it on/off when it's too hot, cold or noisy. In this talk I will show you how easy it is to give your fan a second life while you are living a more luxurious life. Additionally, it might inspire you to do something comparable yourself!

1. @DevPaco
Keeping your head cool with a
serverless voice controlled fan
Paco van Beckhoven
Amsterdam | April 2-3, 2019

2. @DevPaco
About me
Full stack developer
Paco van Beckhoven
@DevPaco

3. @DevPaco
How it all started

4. @DevPaco
The problem
https://gifer.com/en/7UBY

5. @DevPaco
The problem
https://gifer.com/en/96YO

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The problem

7. @DevPaco
The goal
http://i.imgur.com/f7dGct6.gif

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What do we need?
• Convert speech to actions
• A fan
• Something to control the fan
• Serverless

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Converting speech to actions
“Hey Google, talk to Serverless fan, to switch fan on”
Serverless fan

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Conversational User Interfaces
GUI vs CUI

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Converting speech to actions
“Switch fan on”
https://dialogflow.com/docs/intro

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Let’s start

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Let’s start

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What is serverless?
https://nordicapis.com/

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Backend as a Service (BAAS)
https://www.cloudflare.com/learning/serverless/glossary/backend-as-a-service-baas/

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Functions as a Service

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Fulfilling the intent

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Fulfilling the intent

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The Raspberry pi client
const admin = require('firebase-admin');
const credentials = require('./userdata/serviceAccountKey.json');
admin.initializeApp({
credential: admin.credential.cert(credentials),
databaseURL: 'https://<application_name>.firebaseio.com/'
});
admin.database().ref("/fan").on("value", function (snapshot) {
console.log("switching fan " + snapshot.val().state);
// TODO: Turn the fan on/off
});

20. @DevPaco
Controlling the fan
Raspberry Pi
Relay
Electrically operated switch

21. @DevPaco
Controlling the pins
const rpio = require('rpio');
// Setup pin 40
rpio.open(40, rpio.OUTPUT, rpio.LOW);
// Turn the fan on
rpio.write(40, rpio.HIGH);

22. @DevPaco
Recap
• Google Assistant
• Actions On Google
• Serverless fan application
• Dialogflow
• switch_fan intent with the “turn” parameter
• Firebase
• Cloud function
• realtime database
• Pi
• Firebase client
• GPIO

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Demo

24. @DevPaco
Thank you!
https://github.com/pacbeckh/serverless
For slides and useful links
@DevPaco
For questions, feedback, suggestions