OK, so the AI is a bit of a stretch. The script the uses a Google Calendar (via gcalcli) to control a relay placed in a 1974 Goblin 854 Teasmade to boil water for tea/coffee. Shown in this video

The motivation for building this, is a simple proof-of-concept for using a ring-fenced online resource to trigger device (not teasmade) - automation.

Moral: It's possible to use home-automation controls without signing-up to have a listening device constantly plugged into the cloud. If Edward Snowden had an automated tea/coffee machine, it would be this one, probably. (TO DO: Snowden Endorsement Ad)

A Raspberry Pi with a relay switch and an internet connection.

• Relay Switch: Uses a Grove 2 channel Solid State Relay (SSR)
• Google Calendar connection: gcalcli

Follow the installation instructions for the above on your Pi.

git clone https://github.com/llvllch/teasmade.git
cd teasmade
pip3 install -r requirements.txt

To run:

python3 teasmade.py

Put a 5 minute appointement in your google calendar with the title "brew time" (or whatever you chosen trigger word is).

The script monitors the calendar and when it sees a reminder that it's brew time, it switches the relay to turn the Goblin Teasmade on. It the code scans your chosen gmail calendar once a minute and checks "Is there a matching slot between X and X+1 minutes from now (X is a parameter in the config file). If it sees a calendar slot with the trigger word(s) (in config.yaml) in the title, the relay switch closes (which just mimics the teasmade alarm being activated) and the water begins to boil. Once the the alloted time ( closedfor minutes in config.yaml) has passed, the alarm plays (we use the British National anthem).

cat <<EOF | sudo tee /etc/systemd/system/teasmade.service
[Unit]
Description=teasmade
After=network.target

[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/bin/python3 -u /home/pi/teasmade/teasmade.py
WorkingDirectory=/home/pi/teasmade/
StandardOutput=inherit
StandardError=inherit
Restart=always
User=pi

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
EOF

Now, simply enable the service you just made and reboot

sudo systemctl enable teasmade.service
sudo systemctl start teasmade.service

sudo reboot

If you'd like to take this entire transaction off-grid and have a less formal relationship with your Teasmade, then it's relatively simple to control it with an offline voice recognition tool. The file teasmadevoice.py contains the code to control the teasmade using Picovoice - an Edge Voice AI Platform. There are fully open-source alternatives to picovoice (eg Mycroft).

Installation instructions for the installation of the required tools can be found on the Grove Website.