I am a computer scientist. I have a PhD in AI more specifically. I can do
coding (python is my prefered language), as well as some system administration.
I am a teacher (from university to aproximately 12 years old, don't know the english
name of this school level in the US system). In order to teach programming and computing
better, i have learnt for the past 10 years electronics and how to design PCBs (i am far
from being a pro, but i can do clean PCBs), surface mount soldering, etc.
I also invested a lot of time and efforts in 3D printing, 3D modeling, and i am quite
fluent in these domains too.
I used all those to teach myself some robotics, and now i design my own open
source robots for school purposes. I also have a startup doing IOT, and i have
been in the aquarium hobby for quite some time.
I have a high interest in measuring stuff with sensors, automating stuff, and domotics.
I Think i am an advanced user of home assistant and esphome (i don't use many other
solutions, because open source is super important to me). SO i design my own nodes for
esphome/home assistant to read sensors, or control acuators.
For the last 2-3 years, i have been hard at gardening too. I live in a tropical
area so no winter, that means i get multiple seasons each years.
I still have a LOT to learn, but i think i am picking some stuff, i have became the "plants guy"
for my entourage. I tend to read a lot of litterature on subjects i don't know, and i consider
my prior knowledge false until i can verify/validate it.
I came here after seeing the "DIY Home Assistant Garden Automation System", and liking it a lot.
I probably won't do that for now, as i have access to a year-round sunny garden, with a perpetual growing season,
but i am currently in the process of automating my garden, and many concepts are shared.
The fan magnetic stirrer was a great design, for instance, and something i will steal when i add stuff like that to
my garden automation.
For now, not much of the garden is automated, i just installed the drip irrigation, with circuits, built garden beds,
and i am building good soil in some areas. I have a lot of trees (mostly tropical ones), and plenty of plants, but
now i am a bit overwhelmed by all this, especially with my 2 kids that are nearly 3YO and half a YO.
So i hope that i can bring something to the forum, that is the main reason i came : i heard the message from the video
about some help with coding and all, liked the project and the attitude a lot, and i'd be glad to help and contribute.
As of now in my garden i have a solar powered node that monitors a battery, and powers other nodes. I have a T-Higrow node
fully configured in esphome/home assistant (if people want the config, i have it fully working, and i know it can be a pain to
setup due to poor documentation from the manufacturer; i have a working yaml file at hand.)
Immediate projects are :
- adding solenoid valves to constol watering from HA
- write an algorithm to water according to soil moisture
- measure windspeed and water precipitations (i have the sensors, i just need to write the yaml file with the required calculations and find a way to calibrate it)
- see if i need to adjust for illuminance (for instance, soil is moist enough, but high illuminance means high sun, so perhaps a bit of preventing watering to keep roots cooler or something)
- add water flow sensors to track how many liters of water are spent on each action
- add a pressure sensor to detect when there is no tap water to feed the system.
For now i am happy to be here, and if someone needs some help with home assistant/esphome, don't hesitate to hit me up; home assistant is not only something i like, but also a
bit of a hobby of mine, something that i do to chill after work (and i want to control almost everything in the house with it).