Automation is a real big deal nowadays, no matter if you are talking about Home Automation, Building Automation or even (Production, …) Site Automation.
Our Mission
While we are working in Automation for many years now, we realized, that there are some things which we are not really satisfied with. Some exmaples:
- Smart speakers which are not able to control Automation Appliances on their own and within the same network; they need (“cloud”-based) Skills (additional software) which then do the control from outside the network. Seriously?
- Automation Appliances which offer emulators for the Phillips Hue protocol not being able to offer the current status of its devices or for the Apple HomeKit protocol where some accessories simply crash when accessing them.
This is not what we do understand by “Automation”, “Simplicity”, “Safety” or “Reliability”, so we started to build something new.
Therefore, our mission is to provide a real simple, safe and reliable (mostly additional) appliance to help establish real automation in your home, building or site.
We are always working on new and additional features. However, while we certainly do pay highest attention to Safety and Reliability our third really important goal is Simplicity.
If This Then That
Do you know that service? In principle it is a really great idea. But, on the one hand this service is completly “cloud”-based – and do we really want our Automation stuff go through the Internet? On the other hand on IFTTT it is not possible to have multiple actions (the “that”) without “magic” out of your defined triggers (the “this”).
Like you could probably see in OTDT (“On This Do That”), these 2 points were the main reason why we started our work on OTDT.
1.
The OTDT appliance is within your local network. No need to get into the “cloud”.
2.
Although we are still in the very beginning, OTDT is already enabled to get device states via several protocols and methods like MQTT, STOMP, REST and more.
3.
Additionally JavaScript could be used to integrate much more protocols or methods.
4.
Define as much devices, virtual reading points or other triggers as you want.
5.
Base triggers (the “this”) upon the real state or transform incoming states based on numeric values, strings or even JavaScript based expressions into own states.
6.
With OTDT you can have as many actions as you need for each trigger, even JavaScript based actions.
Philips Hue Bridge Emulator
There are many situations where having own Automation stuff behave like a Philips Hue Bridge. One is that many Smart Speakers are able to control Philips Hue Bridges locally without having them install additional software.
- With OTDT you do have a fully functional Philips Hue Bridge (Emulator) available which will present your devices from other Home Automation Appliances to appropriate clients or emulate virtual devices out of your defined triggers (the “this”).
Apple Homekit Bridge Emulator
Nearly each Apple device user with Home Automation surprisingly would love to control it with the Apple HomeKit enabled devices like iPhone, iPad or even the Watch.
On the one hand there are many devices out there supporting Apple Homekit. But, this is definitely not fun without a “real” Home Automation “Server”.
On the other hand there are – certainly – many (Ok, much more) devices out there not supporting Apple HomeKit.
Normally the average user has a different (than Apple HomeKit) Home Automation Appliance running. But, while many of them are not able to talk to Apple HomeKit enabled devices even the ones which do are not fully functional – in most cases out of our experience.
- With OTDT you do have a fully functional Apple HomeKit Bridge (Emulator) available which will present your devices from other Home Automation Appliances to your Apple HomeKit enabled devices or emulate virtual devices out of your defined triggers (the “this”).