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Ask HN: What are the things that you have automated in your personal life?

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Re: Ask HN: What are the things that you have automated in your personal life?

#451

Post by danieka »

vajenetehais wrote: post #448

We (with the wife) automated menu for the week and the shopping list. A database store all recipes (ingredients, time taken...) and the menu composer chose semi-randomly* into the list. * : Menu composer takes into account : - in season vegetables, - number of reutilisation of the ingredient, - number of reutilisation of the meal, - expiration of the ingredients (vegetables can expire rather quickly) - various parame…

This is really fascinating :)

I'd love to use the same system. Is it open source?

Re: Ask HN: What are the things that you have automated in your personal life?

#452

Post by sclangdon »

vajenetehais wrote: post #448

We (with the wife) automated menu for the week and the shopping list. A database store all recipes (ingredients, time taken...) and the menu composer chose semi-randomly* into the list. * : Menu composer takes into account : - in season vegetables, - number of reutilisation of the ingredient, - number of reutilisation of the meal, - expiration of the ingredients (vegetables can expire rather quickly) - various parame…

I've been wanting to do this for ages and link it with the USDA's nutritinal database but I just haven't had the time.

Is there any way to get hold of what you've done?

Re: Ask HN: What are the things that you have automated in your personal life?

#454

Post by lorki »

danieka wrote: post #451
vajenetehais wrote: post #448

We (with the wife) automated menu for the week and the shopping list. A database store all recipes (ingredients, time taken...) and the menu composer chose semi-randomly* into the list. * : Menu composer takes into account : - in season vegetables, - number of reutilisation of the ingredient, - number of reutilisation of the meal, - expiration of the ingredients (vegetables can expire rather quickly) - various parame…

This is really fascinating :) I'd love to use the same system. Is it open source?

+1 Would also like to know the inner workings, a general hint to the approach taken would already be awesome

Re: Ask HN: What are the things that you have automated in your personal life?

#455

Post by DoubleGlazing »

klekih wrote: post #414
DoubleGlazing wrote: post #284

I have semi-automated cooking for the week ahead. We recently started cooking meals for the week ahead on Sundays and then freezing them. The aim was to give us more time with the kids and to cut down on housework. To save time on the Sunday cooking session I have cobbled together a very clunky, and I mean VERY clunky semi-automated cooking system. It comprises a Raspberry PI which controls a couple of WiFi mains swi…

And how much time did you spend automating those things? Is it worth? i.e Is the time spent on cooking minus time spent on automating a positive number?

I spent the best of a weekend putting it together. I could have done it quicker, but my son was helping. It was his mainly his idea.

I don't really save much time. The real benefit is knowing that the food won't burn. Growing up my mother would make soups and stews, she'd leave them to simmer for 30 mins without checking. The food on the bottom of the pot would burn and make the whole thing taste nasty. I wanted to make a system that would prevent that, whereas my son just loves building robots and playing with motors.

It was as much a project for me and my son to mess around with as much as an actual kitchen time saver. But we have plans to develop it and just see where it goes.

Re: Ask HN: What are the things that you have automated in your personal life?

#456

Post by radiKal07 »

pimeys wrote: post #108

I've automated almost all of my diabetes management into a level I basically can look into graphs and decide the level I want my glucose to go. For glucose monitoring I use Dexcom G5 sensors[0] and xDrip[1] open source monitoring application for Android. Insulin delivery is handled by a Accu-Chek Spirit Combo[2] pump, that is one of the rare pumps with a Bluetooth connection. The entity deciding the basal rates and c…

Hey man, look into the keto diet.

Re: Ask HN: What are the things that you have automated in your personal life?

#457

Post by fipple »

mosselman wrote: post #440
aws_ls wrote: post #415

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your friend is a genius! Any idea, how much is it going to cost? And will they plan to sell it in India?

Building a clunky device that imitates human actions is hardly 'genius'. Resourceful maybe. An electrical coffee grinder isn't a normal coffee grinder with some rotating lever attached to it. An electrical coffee grinder has small motors attached to the grinder mechanism in order to make it move. This contraption is fun to build I am sure, but not 'genius'. Much closer to genius is the thermomix: https://thermomix.co…

I've been served Thermomix food and it was extremely unimpressive. I don't know how easy it was to make though, since I didn't participate in the cooking. I can just say that if it's any harder than microwaving it's probably not worth it.

Re: Ask HN: What are the things that you have automated in your personal life?

#458

Post by icebraining »

HumanDrivenDev wrote: post #345
gizmo wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your banking password isn't that sensitive, because banks are used by regular people who don't have any conception of good security practices. The worst case scenario of your bank login credentials leaking are really not that bad. Your personal email account is probably a million times more sensitive. It contains enough personal information to get your identity stolen a thousand times over, and once your email has be…

Your banking password isn't that sensitive, because banks are used by regular people who don't have any conception of good security practices. The worst case scenario of your bank login credentials leaking are really not that bad. Huh? The worst case scenario of your bank login details is... someone depositing all your money to their account, surely.

Nope, the login in (some? many?) banks is just a first step, to actually perform transactions they require a second stage auth. Most they can do is transfer money to some of my family members (I've disabled the second stage for a few specific destinations).

Re: Ask HN: What are the things that you have automated in your personal life?

#459

Post by INTPenis »

anonymous5133 wrote: post #259

I have a robot lawn mower that is wire guided. Instead of the traditional lawn mowers that basically cut the grass in all directions (making a sloppy cut pattern) my mower knows how to cut in straight lines so you get a traditional cut pattern. It also has the ability to dump the grass cuttings into a composting bin. Basically, I put down wire guide cable into the lawn and into the cement as well. It is all powered b…

Just a slight warning if you live in an area of occasional thunderstorms. A friend of a friend here in southern sweden was left with a nasty burn along the length of a robotic lawnmower wire he had buried in the lawn when lightning struck and jumped from a tree to this wire.

That was only one wire that I forget the purpose of, perhaps as electronic barrier. I can't imagine the mayhem of a grid of wires being struck with the same misfortune.

Re: Ask HN: What are the things that you have automated in your personal life?

#460

Post by roel_v »

LifeofPi314 wrote: post #328
kilroy123 wrote: post #324

Maybe not what anyone was expecting, but we've automated all the cleaning in the house. The clothes get washed, folded, and ironed. The trash gets taken out. All the plants get watered. How? The oldest form of automation. We pay someone to come and do it. We have a cleaning person come twice a week.

Where and how do you afford this?

In most places in Western Europe that I've lived, it's perfectly normal for a 2-earner household to have someone that comes in say 4-7 hours to clean once a week, and maybe do some laundry/ironing (depending on time available). It's an expense yes, but around that (when calculated back to monthly cost) of say owning (another) small car.
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