DIY project of WiFi device communicating with smartphone

[yungman]

TL;DR Summary

Some crazy thought about doing something interesting in my retirement.

Hi

I was more of a RF/analog engineer before. I did assembly programming in the early 80s. I learn C++ lately and got into playing a little with Elegoo kit using Arduino ATmega328.

I want to control stuffs in the house like dimming lights etc through the smart phone(not through calling, but just WiFi or bluetooth). All simple stuffs. I am thinking of playing with something like this at home, that instead using an IR remote to control dimming of lights etc. I want to use my smart phone(Samsung android) as remote control. The important thing is I can control without having to have line-of-sight like IR remote, that I can control stuffs upstairs in the house.

Any WiFi controller with MPU that I can program like Arduino and can communicate with Android smart phone that acts like a remote control?

Sorry if I said something funny, it's just an idea. I am playing with the Arduino UNO R3 with Elegoo kit, I gone through 10 little projects, it's not that challenging. So I am thinking about instead of spending more time on this, might as well start on something more interesting if I can do it.

Just want to hear a little more. This is the first day I think about this, excuse me of my ignorance.

Thanks

 

[pbuk]

Any WiFi controller with MPU that I can program like Arduino

The most popular consumer MPU with WiFi currently is the ESP32 and there are a number of development boards available with this being my favourite example: https://www.adafruit.com/product/5364.

and can communicate with Android smart phone that acts like a remote control?

The difficulty here is in creating an Android app that can access the WiFi controller.

Because of this the easiest solution to implement is to create a simple http server on the ESP32 which you can navigate to from the Android's web browser. Here is an example project: https://randomnerdtutorials.com/esp32-web-server-arduino-ide/

 

[pbuk]

The most popular consumer MPU with WiFi currently is the ESP32 and there are a number of development boards available with this being my favourite example: https://www.adafruit.com/product/5364.

Oops, linked the wrong board in translating from my UK supplier to the US: I meant this one: https://www.adafruit.com/product/5477

(I prefer the Feather boards because of their built-in power management).