DIY Switchbot to Control Garage Door Via Smartphone

The Camera, Server, and Controller UI Side:

This Raspberry Pi is the camera, the server, and the controller. The smartphone will connect to remotely connect to this Raspberry Pi and gain access to the controller UI. When the button “Garage Door” is pressed, either a 0 or 1 is written to a text file, and then the server script running in the background reads this text file to upload it into the server. The value in the server is read by the other Raspberry Pi (Switchbot) to activate the motor.

Additionally, the controller UI activates the camera and can also record a video. The recorded file is saved into a folder called “recordings” located in /home/pi/Desktop. Just some extra features to make things more convenient.

Hardware:

• Connect the Raspberry Pi Camera Module to the Raspberry Pi (this is the other Raspberry Pi).
• Mount the camera to the L-shaped sheet metal mount to fix the camera (or any other method).
• Plug in the power supply to the Raspberry Pi.

Software:

• Controller UI Code (Python):

import tkinter
import tkinter.font as font
import subprocess, sys, os
import signal
import time
from datetime import datetime
from picamera import PiCamera

class Window(tkinter.Frame):

    def __init__(self, master=None):

        global pid     #pid of server

        tkinter.Frame.__init__(self, master)

        self.master = master

        self.init_window()

        # open/close garage door option
        self.garageDoor_boolean = False

        # record option
        self.record_boolean = False

        # start/stop camera option
        self.camera_boolean = False
        
        self.camera = PiCamera()

        # server start by activating a script called server.py
        self.args = ['python3','server.py', 'arg1', 'arg2']
        self.proc = subprocess.Popen(self.args, shell=False)
        pid = self.proc.pid
        print(pid)
        self.poll = self.proc.poll()

    def init_window(self):

        global button1
        global button2
        global button3
        
        self.master.title("Controller")

        self.pack(fill=tkinter.BOTH, expand=1)

        button1 = tkinter.Button(self, text="Start Recording", height = 5, width = 20, command=lambda: self.Record)
        button1.place(x=25, y=30)
        button1.bind('<ButtonRelease-1>', self.Record)

        button2 = tkinter.Button(self, text="Start Webcam", height = 5, width = 20, command=lambda: self.Webcam)
        button2.place(x=260, y=30)
        button2.bind('<ButtonRelease-1>', self.Webcam)

        button3 = tkinter.Button(self, text="Garage Door", height = 5, width = 20, command=lambda: self.Door)
        button3.place(x=150, y=200)
        button3.bind('<ButtonRelease-1>', self.Door)

    def Door(self, event=None):

        # write to text file door.txt
        if(self.garageDoor_boolean == False):
            with open('door.txt', 'w') as f:
                f.write('1')
            self.garageDoor_boolean = True
        else:
            with open('door.txt', 'w') as f:
                f.write('0')
            self.garageDoor_boolean = False

    def Record(self, event=None):
        
        self.camera.vflip = True
        self.camera.hflip = True

        if(self.record_boolean == False):
            timeStamp = datetime.now().strftime("%y%m%d_%H%M%S")
            self.camera.start_recording('/home/pi/Desktop/recordings/{}.h264'.format(timeStamp))
            self.record_boolean = True
            button1.config(text="Stop Recording")

        else:
            self.camera.stop_recording()
            self.record_boolean = False
            button1.config(text="Start Recording")
            
    def Webcam(self, event=None):

        # No need to apply below if your camera is already right-side up
        self.camera.vflip = True
        self.camera.hflip = True

        if(self.camera_boolean == False):
            self.camera.start_preview(fullscreen=False, window=(-10, 100, 640, 480))
            self.camera_boolean = True
            button2.config(text="Stop Webcam")

        else:
            self.camera.stop_preview()
            self.camera_boolean = False
            button2.config(text="Start Webcam")

def closeWindow():
    # terminate server
    print(pid)
    proc_terminate = os.kill(pid, signal.SIGTERM)
    # close window
    root.destroy()

root = tkinter.Tk()

h = 420 # height of tk window

# get screen width and height
ws = root.winfo_screenwidth() # width of the screen
hs = root.winfo_screenheight() # height of the screen

y = hs - h

root.geometry("480x400+0+%d" % (y))

app = Window(root)

root.protocol('WM_DELETE_WINDOW',closeWindow)

root.mainloop()

• Server Code (Python, Flask): server.py

from flask import Flask

app = Flask(__name__)

@app.route('/door')
def get_data():
    with open('door.txt', 'r') as f:    # Reading value from text file "door.txt"
        status_raw = f.readlines()
        status = str(status_raw)[2:3]
    return '<h5>{}</h5>'.format(status)

if __name__ == '__main__':
    app.run(host='0.0.0.0', port=8090, debug=True)

Step 3: