Marvin: The Home Automation Assistant Robot
In the age of home automation hubs like Google Home, Amazon Echo and Apple Homepod Why would you want to build your own? Several reasons actually: For one thing it's just plain fun to build, and once it's finished it's amazing to see a device you built with your own two hands connecting to your network and controlling your home. However there are many practical reasons to build your own home automaton system.
Why?
Privacy. You know exactly what happens to all your data.
Some home automation services are not exactly transparent about where your data goes. And when a device is always listening for the wake word everything you say gets processed.
Self contained. Marvin is designed to be independent from the internet.
This means that slow or unreliable internet won't slow down the system. The system will work just as well in the middle of a desert as it will in a city.
Security. Not all home automation devices are as secure as they should be.
There have even been reports of networks being breached by security holes in the software of smart refrigerators. Allowing devices with unknown security on to your network is never a good idea. Also if there are bugs in the security, nobody has found them and shared it to the entire internet.
Cost. The long term cost of building a home automaton system yourself is much lower than buying into existing home automation systems.
The "Hub" (In this case Marvin) will most likely be the most expensive part. Even with the full development of Marvin costing just under $600 it is still well worth it. My "Nodes" to control light switches cost about $8, my sensor nodes cost even less. That is much less than what pre-built systems cost, meaning that I can add many devices to the network at very low cost.
Future proof. In 2016 Revolv servers shut down leaving hundreds of customers with useless bricks.
Although it's unlikely that your home automation company will shut down, if it does you will likely be left with hundreds of dollars of dead gadgets. Since Marvin uses no outside servers his system can keep running regardless of what may change in the home automation world.
Total Customization. No "One Size Fits All" home automation will ever be exactly what you need.
It may fall short or just not really work like you wanted it to. When you build your own device you know exactly what you want it to do and how it works. You may build a device that nobody else would even think of, you can even build you gadgets to match the style of your room, the possibilities are endless!