Home automation hub support

Would like to see home automation hub support such as the ability to integrate with SmartThings, Revolv, etc. and not be limited to just one hub.

+1 for SmartThings

+2 for SmartThings

+3 for smart things, primarily for integration with this: http://myplantlink.com/
Failing that, they appear to have or are working on an API, so a more direct integration may be possible. They don’t appear to have a tie in with another irrigation system yet (except their own, hose based system).

For SmartThings support, check out Eve - I am definitely backing it when the kickstarter happens.

http://www.eveirrigation.com/

I would like integration with control4

I would like to see integration with Universal Devices’ ISY.

+1 for VeraLite

+1 for Ninja Sphere
https://developers.ninja/

I also would like to see Vera Lite support

Forgive my ignorance, but can someone explain why it would be useful to have Rachio linked to a home automation hub?

To be clear, I am tech savvy and have a Wink hub and have a number of items linked to it – lights, outlets, fans, Nest A/C, etc – but these are things that I interact with every day on a regular basis, where IMO it makes sense to automate and control them through a single rich app.

But Iro is very much a task-specific device (i.e. water the lawn), and already has a great app for controlling/automating and managing it. Once set up, it should be mostly “hands off”. It’s not clear to my why I would want to link Rachio to my hub (other than “because I can”). I think I’d rather have the Rachio folks spending engineering effort on other features related to the Iro’s primary task. I have no intention of linking irrigation runs to my indoor light/AC activity, but maybe I’m missing something here??

Not trolling, genuinely interested! I’m interested in cool use-cases if they exist. :slight_smile:

1 Like

@ramblinwreck

You definitely bring up some good points. For the most part it doesn’t seem like you would be using another interface to create/manage watering times and replicate some of the more advanced features we have (i.e. zone characteristics, reports, etc.).

I think one of the great things about integrating our product into other hubs is that it allows users to have very fine grained control of the Iro in relation to other IoT devices. For example, when my temperature sensor reaches a certain threshold do/don’t water. Or, pause my system when the motion detector detects movement and resume after 5 minutes. Or vice versa, run the system when motion is detected (those pesky deer!) for 5 minutes.

Will most people build these sophisticated recipes? Probably not, but I think as APIs become more rich and integration becomes easier, we will see a lot more devices working together.

Fear not, we aren’t getting too distracted by all of the shiny integration objects. I like the concept of IFTTT since it is all software based with loose coupling, as opposed to the SmartThings integration we are doing which has taken considerable development time. We are quickly learning our lesson on where to apply our engineering team to get the most value.

The thing we are most excited about is our 2.0 mobile/web release at the end of April. Stay tuned for a full re-write of the apps with some amazing new features.

Thanks for the input and love to hear any/all feedback.

Have a great weekend.

:beers:

+1 for Vera

@ramblinwreck

  1. The first thought is a central place for all home automation

  2. Having a common place to get data about usage and many other things needed; if you are trying to collect data about improving the efficiency of the whole house.