If you’re looking to kick your smart home sound system up a notch, here’s a fun way to do it. With a little extra work and some RFID technology, you can build your own card-driven jukebox that’s sure to impress at your next party.
GIF: YouTube/hoveeman
Created by YouTube user hoveeman (and spotted by Android Police), this impressive setup uses RIFD cards and a matching scanner that’s connected to a Raspberry Pi computer. Each specially-printed card activates a different album or playlist. The rest of the tech is cleverly hidden inside the table.
GIF: YouTube/hoveeman
The entire setup is connected to Google Assistant, which syncs music across three different speakers: A Google Home in a kitchen, a Google Home Mini in a sun room, and a Chromecast-connected sound bar in a living room. It is possible to run the entire card-scanning setup off a single Raspberry Pi, but you’d need one of the newer Raspberry Pi 3 models. (Hoveeman notes that he has Google Assistant running on a separate computer.)
This all might sound unnecessarily complicated and nerdy, but I can see it coming in handy in a bunch of different situations. The smart home jukebox would be great for parties where people can take turns picking music without yelling over each other to control Google Home. It’s also great for kids or other house guests who might not know how to use a smart home speaker and need something a little more intuitive.
If you’re interested in creating your own Google Home jukebox, you can follow hoveeman’s detailed directions over on Github. That includes a list of all the hardware you’ll need to buy, along with everything else you need to know.
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