Build a smart home entertainment system

Smart homes have many benefits, and it's not just about convenience, security, and drudgery. Entertainment is an important part of what we do at home, and smart technology can help us maximize our enjoyment of our home entertainment systems and manage them more easily.

In this article, we'll look at some of the ways smart home technology leads to better entertainment, and we'll share some examples of Arduino Project Hub home entertainment projects you can try.

The benefits of smart home entertainment Smart entertainment systems are easier to control and navigate. Smart technology makes it easy to change the volume, switch between systems and optimize the functionality of your entertainment device. You can sync entertainment devices with other gadgets like voice command tools and even exercise machines to create a more user-friendly and feature-rich experience. With smart technology, you gain more control over your devices, allowing you to monitor things like time and screen usage, and protect younger family members by banning certain sites and apps and monitoring activity. Some examples of smart entertainment projects

Exercise and entertainment can be a perfect combination, with devices like the Peloton gaining popularity in recent years. Connecting an exercise machine to your home entertainment system can be a great way to make your workouts more interesting and engaging, especially when your entertainment inspires you to work harder.

Arduino community member Roboro built this project where he connected a stationary bike to an Arduino Nano, allowing him to control Netflix streaming on a PC.

When you set up the device, it will open Firefox and start playing Netflix. The bike will monitor your speed according to a routine you've designed, and if you drop too long below your desired speed, Netflix will shut down until you speed up again. You don't have to use Netflix; the same setup should work with any streaming service with a few small changes.

Pravin Desai designed this simple project to allow users to change channels on their TV using their voice. Voice control is a popular tool in many homes today, and devices like Amazon's Alexa make it easier than ever to control technology in our homes by simply telling it what to do.

Desai's project works by using a Bluetooth-controlled voice TV remote with an IR emitter. An app called BT Voice Control converts voice input into a string and sends it to Arduino to make your command a reality.

Jose Luis Bejarano Vasquez has created a project to help users control their TV, DVD and sound system using Arduino and an Android app. It's fairly easy to replicate and only requires a handful of components.

Good old-fashioned pinball is a time-tested form of entertainment, a staple of arcades and bars around the world. In your home, a pinball machine can be the perfect way to entertain guests or even just keep you busy.

Arduino member Frogger1108 always wanted a pinball machine, but quickly discovered that fully functional, working pinball machines aren't cheap and require a lot of maintenance and knowledge, especially older electromechanical machines (EM).

Frogger1108 spent some time researching how to build a pinball machine and found various homemade projects using Arduino. Instead of buying their own pinball machine components (which was expensive and time-consuming), Frogger1108 bought an old pinball machine on eBay and used it for their parts.

The end result was a fully functional pinball machine controlled by a single Arduino Mega 2560. It cost a lot less...