This is Surprisingly Better Than MMWave Sensors?

[@andybrice2711]

Rather than buying mmWave sensors, I've found it's a lot more cost-effective and flexible simply to add RFID tags to my family and guests. It's a quick setup process with implant tools which are available from any veterinary supplier (given convincing paperwork). And you don't even have to worry about explaining it to them, with the right combination of anaesthetics administered in a meal or drink.

[@technithusiast]

I have a questionably “authorized” dealer who asks no questions and will implant it behind the ear. But all of my family and friends would unreasonably object, saying that they “didn’t like having tracking technology embedded in their body.” Tch. Cavemen 😑 Now I have to use the mmWave sensor like a philistine smh.

[@djrosco1982]

So… my cat is easier to integrate into my smart home automations than I am?! 🤔

[@andybrice2711]

​@@djrosco1982Joking aside about tagging humans. I have actually wondered from what distance you can detect a pet's RFID chip.

[@djrosco1982]

@@andybrice2711 as I’m sure you are aware, you can buy pet doors (cat flaps) with chip readers so they only operate for particular pets… I’d like to modify one to monitor my cats whereabouts and auto lock her in at night for example

[@andybrice2711]

@@djrosco1982 Those require a collar though, right? I don't think they can read the animal's RFID implant.

[@kellymoses8566]

I've found that IP cameras with facial recognition is great for presence detection. You don't even need to store the video, it can be deleted as soon as the OCR algo is done with it. Objects in view of 2 different cameras can even be located in 3 dimensions fairly accurately.

[@technithusiast]

I feel you on that. The only downside is that people find them creepy Check out this short 👉🏾 Cameras are superior presence sensors. Prove me wrong. #facts #smarthome #presencesensors kzbin.info7JRdEhyTLGM?feature=share

[@brusdaar]

I think it makes sense to use both espresence with mmwave. I have an EP1 and I can use it as a ble tracker as well. The problem I have with ble tracking is that it's too slow to rely on alone for things you want to happen immediately as you enter or exit a room.

[@technithusiast]

I agree. Using both would provide fun capabilities to improve automations

[@MarkusBurrer]

ESPresence relies on everyone carrying a Bluetooth device. In our case, that only applies to me. And not always. My wife often leaves her cell phone somewhere. The only advantage is that it's easier for her to find.

[@technithusiast]

Yeah that’s the biggest downside to this type of tracking

[@EbrahimHasan]

Also, with ESPresence the identification is personalised.

[@Airbag888]

You know that's the same for me.. this just made "where's my phone" so much easier to answer and worth it for me haha

[@festro1000]

If you could add a mmwave sensor to the espsense you would have the best of both worlds, even better is you could improve the reliability of the espsense if the radio was only active in populated rooms which it would be able to differentiate with a mmwave sensor.

[@technithusiast]

That would be a dream!!!! i would experiment with building that custom device but i would like to get a 3D printer so i can create a proper enclosure for it.

[@festro1000]

@@technithusiast it might be better to get a working prototype on a breadboard before pouring time and filament.

[@andrea00]

There’s one last difference!! Money!! In a three room house I used pir + mmvawe. But in my family house, I couldn’t buy so many expansive sensors for multiples rooms (or multiple sensors for large rooms). So in this house I used the good old esp32 for 7€ for room!! (I’ve bought packs of 5 esp32, each pack 35€!) Both systems work pretty well!! Great video! Thanks!!

[@technithusiast]

You’re sooooo right! Idk how I missed such an obvious advantage. Thanks for that!

[@Haldi4803]

LD2450 mmWave Sensor costs 7$ as well. So Double the cost. 30-60$ for prebuild Sensors.

[@Spractral]

Great video man.. informative, no filler and even some production value. These things look sweet

[@technithusiast]

Glad you enjoyed!! Hopefully you feel the same about the other vids on the channel 😬

[@PiyushNikam]

Hi One off topic question, how do you configure your google home device to play personalised news, calendar events or songs via home assistant (or whatever the way you are doing it)

[@technithusiast]

Hi! You will need the Google cast integration which allows you to use google devices as media players www.home-assistant.io/integrations/cast/ You may also want to install the Google Assistant SDK as it gives you the ability to call the google assistant which can give you some added flexibility: www.home-assistant.io/integrations/google_assistant_sdk/

[@CrankyCoder]

I am using espresense as well. I couple it with motion sensors. that way motion can tell SOMEONE is in the room, turn on lights, ect. but then espresense is used to indicate who is in the room and if they are still in the room (sitting still, fell asleep ect) and can keep the lights on.

[@technithusiast]

Same here!! (Great minds!) This was the primary reason I needed this type of room level detection but I later found out I could do some more neat automations with it 😬

[@Airbag888]

I wonder if I can use shelly devices for this purpose? They got bluetooth in their gen2 and I got these already scattered around the house

[@technithusiast]

If they can act as base station/Node then yes. Otherwise these would simply show up as static non-moving entireties which wouldn’t be much use.

[@bobellison2547]

These two solutions are apples and oranges ... related but not used for the same use cases. You want mmwave to turn on lights as anyone enters the garage and espresence to tell you you wife is in the garage 😊

[@technithusiast]

I think they are more like granny smith apples vs Fiji Apples. They both do the same thing - determine presence - but they both have different ways (or flavor) of doing it. As a result, they both have distinct advantages and disadvantages as well as abilities that overlap. And I agree with you that your use case will determine which tool is better suited for the job.

[@marsrocket]

@@technithusiast​​⁠ Mm wave detectors can tell you *where* you are in a room in addition to the fact that you’re there.

[@technithusiast]

I don’t disagree with you! mmWave is powerful because it can tell you granularly where a person is within a space. This by itself is pretty dope. And though ESPresence don’t have the special accuracy of mmWave it can impressively tell you who is present in the designate areas. In terms of practical user experience, I would rate know who is in a space higher than accurately knowing where a person is as it allows you to be more personalized. But by no means does this diminish mmWave!

[@scotthewitt6047]

When I was looking for what MM Wave device to use, I found one that actually is made to see your heartbeat.

[@technithusiast]

Sounds very intense… I could see this being useful in hospitals or if you have an elderly parent you want to take care of… hmmmm now that I think of it… there’s a lot of really useful things you could do by monitoring heartbeats - identify threats, monitor babies, identify distress, encourage an active life style… list goes on. But there is a line with this type of bio tracking…

[@simonsayshomeassistant]

Another great video mate! You have a great channel!

[@technithusiast]

I appreciate it! I have more great ideas i want to explore so stay tuned!

[@stevenshizzle]

I liked this video. I will probably experiment with this in the future. MMwave is working well for me, but this could be nice for some automations such as validating when someone has arrived home via the garage. Subscribed!!! Thanks for such an informative video.

[@technithusiast]

Hey of course! Glad you like it! Feel free to check out my video on MMWave at automations

[@argamartaka3059]

Any idea how to overwrite it with esphome? I have the wroom-32, I tried overwriting from HA but it says 'Wrong boot mode detected (0xb)! The chip needs to be in download mode.' even though I held down the boot button during the connection.

[@ericapelz260]

I would need a map card with a "Marauders Map" that showed names and footprints as we moved around the house. JK can get bent, but I'll use the idea.

[@technithusiast]

Thats a pretty interesting concept! I like it! lemme know how it turns out.

[@BCKammen]

How about a combination of both MMWave and ESPresence? The MMWave knows a person in the room start and action or turns on lights or such, and then ESPresence can be used to ID who it is after the delay and set particular actions or settings of a space based on who it is in there. So MMWave as a general (all user/person) action, and ESPresence as the detailed action.

[@BCKammen]

Sorry going through all your videos, might see comments like this on old videos.

[@technithusiast]

Nahh im glad you’re finding the content enjoyable :)

[@NunoSoares22]

Sick video man! Keep it up!

[@technithusiast]

Glad you enjoyed!!!

[@RealLordy]

It is a nice technology. But what if you forget your phone in the living room and you dont have your watch on your wrist and then go to the attick for which the lights are controlled by espresence.... it will stay dark. Presence detection based on a device being present on a person only is not a good solution as it is actually device detection. Now, mmwave combined with esppresence, that has added value: mmwave tells you someone is in. In addition: esppresence may provide you info on who is in the room and trigger scenes or settings based on that for that specific person or persons

[@technithusiast]

It’s one of many solutions. Just because it’s not the best solution doesn’t disqualify it in my book. There are things this device excel at that makes it worth trying out 😁

[@RealLordy]

@@technithusiast Fully agree. The "best solution" does not exist as it depends on the person using it. I hope you did not take my remark as negative critisism. Would it be possible to set up a YT video where both technologies are combined: mmwave for presence detection, BT for defining who is there and scene activation based on the outcome of it. Example: date is Christmas evening, household of 4 is in the livingroom => normal scene. Other people arrive (unrecognized BT identification, but higher people count in the room) => scene swaps to Christmas evening scene for dinner once people are at the table etc...Personally I think this kind of things is where the power of home automation lies On a sidenote: I am currently equipping lots of switches handling *dumb* lights with Shelly plus ones as they have a built in BT gateway. Final decision came after your video as it triggered the above idea (next to bypassing my wife toggling the switches that actually power off my smart bulbs in the same go 😄😄😄)

[@technithusiast]

I appreciate the comments and perspective so no offense taken on my side 😁. There are a few sensors I wish someone would combine. The combo you mentioned would be at the top of my list. Another one would be door window sensor combined with vibration. This would cover knocking and break-ins

[@adfjasjhf]

I love the intro! It needs a bit more touch and it could be used as an official "trailer" for ESP Presence :)

[@technithusiast]

Glad you like it. Tbh I don’t have the patience I see other creators have when putting together cinematic sequences 😛

[@steveswoodworking2504]

Some great ideas in this video. I like the idea of only using the speaker in the room where the person is. I'm working on adding a bunch of ESPHome devices around the house. I'm adding a mmWave device, an I2S speaker, and hopefully an I2S microphone in each project box with an ESP32 S3. I'm having an issue with the microphone, but have a different one on order to try, the same one that is in the Atom Echo smart speaker. Probably some combination of mmWave and ESPresence will do fairly well. I already have my first speaker letting me know when someone is out front, saying things like "There is a truck and two people in the driveway", based on my security cameras and Blue Iris. I'll check out your Node Red code, I am always in search of new ideas and to learn more! Oh, and making my own ESPHome devices, and buying just the mmWave chips, I can get all that for pretty cheap. I do have one Aqara FP2 I am playing with though.

[@technithusiast]

I would love to get some mics and have home assistant listening locally. I hear that ESPresence works well with FP2 so give it a try!

[@steveswoodworking2504]

@@technithusiast I'll let you know how this second microphone works, since I couldn't get the first one to work. I am going to use the SPM1423 this time, I just got some little breakout PCB's I designed and ordered, came in today. The microphones should be here soon. Then the trick will be, can I solder that super tiny microphone to my breakout board? I hope so! Since it is the same microphone used in the Atom Echo device, this should work.

[@xristian-v5c]

What automation/program was running in the OfficeHub, when the tablet said "Good morning, here is what you should know today"?

[@technithusiast]

It’s a custom automation built using home assistant and node-red. This video may help: Make Your Own Innovative Smart-Home Secretary kzbin.info/www/bejne/fmSbe5V_dtyEl6c

[@xristian-v5c]

@@technithusiast thanks!

[@brianv2871]

So only did a brief look at espresence, it seems like what i'm seeing is that in order for it to work on android phones you might need to install an app, and under a lot of the watches, it seems like they don't work if they're paired with a phone? If true, that seems like a limited use since very few people wouldn't have their watched paired to something? That said, I haven't watched your original video so i'll go watch that now.

[@chiraldude]

I tried ESPresence but the only Bluetooth devices carried by people in my house are Android phones. I tried for several days to get ESPresence to receive Bluetooth signals from Android but it just doesn't work. Android uses nonstandard Bluetooth packets that ESPresence doesn't know how to read.

[@technithusiast]

I’m not surprised. I’ve seen posts that people are able to use their androids fine with this system but I only got it to work with my wife’s phone for about a day. I haven’t looked at it in a while but I do plan on getting it working with her android. If I get it working I’ll post about it 👌🏾

[@augareth]

I really like the thought process you have for home automation overall. Also your editing and B roll is really slick!

[@technithusiast]

Thanks! Just trying to inspire some new ideas in the space and keep it entertaining 😁

[@formatBCE]

For me, the biggest downside of ESPresence it, that i can't use it with ESPHome. I have BUNCH of ESP32 around the house already, with BLE stack unused. Putting ESPResence-flashed chips alongside seems like overkill. Ah, and setup/adjustment is pretty inconvenient. I'm using my own solution to this, as extension aka custom_component for ESPHome.

[@henrikmller5986]

this is in no way better that MMWave when i constantly have to have a mobile or a Bluetooth enabled unit on me all the time.

[@technithusiast]

Many of us have our cellphones in us or watches which makes this a pretty viable cheap and powerful solution

[@AshleyGittins]

I'm hoping that someone builds a homeassistant-native replacement that uses ble_proxy via esphome, that way we have the flexibility of running multiple things on the esp32's (or at least not dedicating them to esprescense), and we can centralise the collation of rssi's at the homeassistant level. That way I think it *should* be possible to include some basic (or advanced) triangulation, and potentially using mapping and fixed beacons to intelligently adjust rssi's against expected and measured propagation. Potentially one could map a whole house with only three proxies (but I wouldn't expect great results) and additional proxies would add to the potential resolution. If it works ok one could then potentially calculate realtime vectors for tracked beacons, enabling some rough predictions of anticipated area entry. Currently it looks like the ble component in HA keeps the rssi about each advertisement received by each proxy, but a component might need to poll the internal structure each loop as it doesn't look like it fires events as frequently as we'd probably need (pulling the debug info on the bluetooth component shows the data). Let me know when you raise a PR 😅

[@technithusiast]

Lol. This may extend a little beyond my skill set but I understand where you’re going. The person I think may come close to that level of integration would be everythingmarthome as an update to his presence sensors maybe we can bug him to include BLE tracking 😬

[@AshleyGittins]

@@technithusiast hehe now there's a thought! 😀I actually did some messing around with this last night, spent most of the time getting my head around the boilerplate needed, but after more hours than I care to admit I have a service that dumps rssi by device by source. Baby steps!

[@Mephmt]

¿por qué no los dos?

[@technithusiast]

You can go for both! Together they are extremely powerful!

[@markheatherington8367]

Glad I came across your channel. My NUC arrived on sunday and I'm going to be installing HA this afternoon.

[@technithusiast]

👌🏾lemme know how it goes for you.

[@Fine_i_set_the_handle]

Too slow for lighting automations which would be the primary usage and relies on you having a phone which many people don't always carry. And it can also have issues bleeding over into other rooms.

[@chrisdeaap6915]

I was thinking of getting an aqara fp2 since it might double as an bed occupancy sensor. But after seeing your video I might reconsider. It would be great to have music start playing for a specific person. Or turning on a specific pc depending who is entering the room. Maybe I should get both 😅

[@technithusiast]

I won't tell you how to spend your money but i will say having both sounds like a lot of fun 🙃

[@PatrickBulteel]

You coul have the coffee maker make the capucchino for your partner (when they go into the kitchen), a latte for you... and an expresso for the kids.

[@Bazwalt]

A solution, albeit expensive, might be to have mmWave in each room and have the mmWave trigger an update to ESP Presence.

[@technithusiast]

Together mmWave and ESPresence makes a powerful workhorse

[@MNpale]

This is a good solution since I have a nano pc inserted into my body already.

[@technithusiast]

😮

[@PatrickBulteel]

Hi, very good start to ESP presence detection. I'm just going to say something... I really, really like your intros. I had to see if a couple of times. Looking forward to your other videos. BTW, I know you do everything in node-red, but I'm trying to do what you're doing "natively" in HA. Maybe I'll publish the automations and scripts.

[@technithusiast]

Hi I’m glad you’re enjoying the videos! I really wish there was a way to convert node-red automations to yaml and vice-versa. I typically have the reverse problems since I’m traveling abroad less trodden and find a lot of blueprints but no node-red alternatives.

[@MarkGhali]

nice video! new sub

[@technithusiast]

Thanks and welcome aboard

[@threepe0]

I don't really see it as mmwave vs bluetooth or other IPS. It kinda surprises me that someone would make the comparison as either/or. This is kinda like saying you don't need to see someone, because you can smell them instead. And though that may be true, it makes for awkard and probably inaccurate identification of your loved ones. I think apple devices obfuscate their id somehow too, so unless you install an app on an iphone, I don't think it's possible to detect where in a building they are using bluetooth. Motion detection is A mode of presence detection, but it shouldn't be the complete solution. You can use mmwave to detect if there is motion (that isn't to say there is a person in the room, a cat or falling object would trigger it just as easily,) and then fine-tune the information using bluetooth. I wouldn't want to wait until identifying WHO is in the room before I determine whether to turn lights on for example. So, you can save time and instantly turn on lights because no matter who it is, you probably don't want them stumbling around in the dark. MMwave can tell you if there's motion, but it can't distinguish on its own whether that's a person or a fan for example (there may be processors/boards with some logic built in, I'm referring only to the sensor itself.) So it's pretty much mandatory to use other forms of detection. Detecting whether or not your phone is moving, or if your watch is on a wrist can be useful for determining whether or not to register coming and going, and if mmwave is not registering motion but your phone is there not moving, it's safe to assume you're either not on the planet, or otherwise not in the room. It doesn't help if your roommate is in the room and you've left without your phone, but it does help with most other cases. You could always detect who in particular is talking when using speech to text too; I've seen a few different models that can help with this, I've got it on my docket of things to try out. But I'd love to see you do a video on it if you try it out.

[@technithusiast]

Hi thanks for commenting! I couldn't completely follow your train of thought but it felt as though we may be on the same page for the most part. I think we may differ on whether or not they should be compared and since they both function as Room Level Detection sensor, I think they can be compared. Are you a fan of MMWave or ESPresence... Or both?

[@threepe0]

@@technithusiast both of course, but I think there might be better IPS systems available than Bluetooth like uwb which I’m still investigating. I’m not sure where I lost you: Im simply saying that neither mmwave nor espresence are good complete “presence” sensors. Mmwave detects motion at a sub-millimeter level, and espresence can only detect motion if you’re using multiple sensors for triangulation, and still, it’s slow. Mmwave will never tell you whom is in the room, it’ll just give you an idea of if someone is in the room. Espresence will basically just give you an idea of what quadrant of a house someone is in, and the info can’t really be totally relied on (reflections of signals, different wall materials effecting signal strength etc.) They are different tools for entirely different jobs. I still say it’s silly to compare them at all.

[@technithusiast]

Ahh then I agree with you 100% 😬 I’m curious what other IPS you find. To integrate both solutions or find some other means of bio identification. The closest thing I can think of is using facial recognition but then we would need to start considering the social impact

[@NickDawson]

I’m sincerely curious if y’all really have it working? I put an ESPresence sensor in every room, tuned the minimum distance, etc. and it’s wildly inaccurate and buggy. I’ll be 1M from a sensor and HA thinks I’m on another floor across the house.

[@technithusiast]

I’ve heard of complaints similar to yours before I decided to try it out and for the most part it’s been accurate for me. I’m curious if there’s interference with the placement of the nodes? Additionally what device is ESPresence is tracking?

[@darrellturner7618]

What we need is someway of fusing all the sensors together! What i'm thinking of is something that keeps track of all activity in an area and attempts to label it "Anonymous" or the name of the person. Use the icloud gps locations of a person when out of the home, and the espresense companion gps locations when in the home. Have some amount of filtering based on impossible combinations. I've had HA assume i've driving 200mi in a second and then 200mi away a second later. Obviously that data should be thrown away.

[@technithusiast]

It would be really cool if there was a way to track a person without a need for some additional hardware like a watch or phone. Cameras can technically do it but that’s kinda creepy. And assuming we were able to track without cameras or additional gear i think it would have larger ramification in everyday society… 🤔

[@abdessamedbouledroua6932]

I think it's stupid comparing these two sensors together. Mmwave is made to detect human presence whereas esp is detecting phones smartwatchs... imagin you want to use a sensor to start an automation for lights in a room then you have to ask whomever goes in that room to pick the phone with him 😂 not logical

[@technithusiast]

Any and everything can be compared. Even apple and oranges! Comparing the two is quite fun as they both present a different approach to presence detection. Go try them both out and lemme know your opinions 😬

[@abdessamedbouledroua6932]

@@technithusiast comparing apples to oranges is a waste of time. Now regarding the sensors. i think having mmwave sensor eliminates the need to use the of esp as presence sensor

[@technithusiast]

Meh, maybe. I think esp has its benefits.

[@Hellawacked]

awesome intro

[@technithusiast]

I appreciate it! If you liked this then check out some of the intro on some of my other vids 😁

[@Random_Innovation]

Do you know of any good mmWave sensors?

[@technithusiast]

I only know of three options. 1. You could build it yourself with parts from the internet 2. Aqara Presence Sensor FP2 (affiliate link): www.amazon.com/Aqara-Positioning-Multi-Person-Detection-Assistant/dp/B0BXWZMQJ3/ref=sr_1_4?crid=3J0NA35WQ9KGC&amp%3Bkeywords=aqara&amp%3Bqid=1688969341&amp%3Bsprefix=aqar%252Caps%252C273&amp%3Bsr=8-4&_encoding=UTF8&tag=technithusias-20&linkCode=ur2&linkId=9c446b2f96450971ccfc4f6567a8158c&camp=1789&creative=9325 3. Everything presence one: shop.everythingsmart.io/en-us/products/everything-presence-one-kit

[@ciprian-nedelcu]

lol is ESPresense not presence