Smart Home & Life Monitor

As remote work becomes the norm, our homes now serve as our offices, living spaces, and sanctuaries. However, this creates a complex challenge: managing multiple demands simultaneously, such as work focus, household efficiency, pet well-being, and system stability.

The "Smart Home & Life Monitor" was born to solve this challenge. It collects a wide variety of data in real-time using M5Stack products and Raspberry Pis: outdoor weather (rain, temperature, humidity), indoor air quality (CO2) and comfort (THI - Temperature-Humidity Index), public disaster alerts (QZSS), aircraft information (ADS-B), and system status (CPU temperature).

All of this information is aggregated via the MQTT protocol and centrally displayed on a power-efficient, easy-to-read E-Paper screen. This allows the user to grasp necessary information at a glance and make logical, data-driven decisions (e.g., when to ventilate, how to adjust air conditioning). This is not just a collection of sensors, but an intelligent partner for a more comfortable, safer, and productive life at home.

Why I built this project

Remote work brought many conveniences, but it also created new challenges, particularly the difficulty of "context switching." While focusing on work, I'd find myself wondering about the weather: "Will my laundry get wet?" Or worrying about my pet's comfort in another room. These small anxieties disrupt concentration and reduce productivity. The goal of this project is to eliminate these daily worries with data, creating an environment where I can fully focus on the task at hand.

Features and the Problems They Solve

• Rain Detection (M5Stack AtomS3 Lite): Eliminates the anxiety of "Will my laundry get ruined by a sudden shower?" with a reliable physical sensor. This allows me to work without worrying about the weather.

• Optimizing Pet's Environment (Raspberry Pi Pico W + SCD41): For my heat-sensitive pet rabbit, the system calculates the THI (Temperature-Humidity Index) in real-time based on the temperature and humidity near its cage. This enables precise, data-driven air conditioner management, protecting my pet's health, rather than relying on human senses.

• Boosting Productivity (CO2 Monitoring): The same SCD41 sensor monitors indoor CO2 levels. By prompting me to ventilate when levels exceed a certain threshold, it prevents a decline in concentration and helps maintain a high-performance work environment.

• System Self-Monitoring: Constantly displaying the CPU temperatures of the supporting Raspberry Pis provides peace of mind, allowing for the early detection of issues like thermal throttling and ensuring system stability.
• Power-Efficient Information Interface (E-Paper): All information is presented on a low-power, high-visibility E-Paper display. It's designed to blend into the living space, allowing for quick checks of essential information without being intrusive.

What makes this project special?

The core of this project lies in its elegant integration of the accessibility and robustness of M5Stack products with the diversity and extensibility of the Raspberry Pi ecosystem, all tied together with MQTT, a standard IoT technology. It is not just an assortment of sensors; its greatest strength is that it is a complete, polished system designed to solve concrete, real-life problems.