“Ever asked how to control any device from any place in the world? In this tutorial, we’ll learn how to control things wirelessly over WiFi.
Introduction
Today, we will build a device that connects to the internet and allow the user to control his/her home remotely over wifi. we will use the Arduino board(any model will do the job well) with the ESP8266-01 wifi module to make this device. Let’s get started!
What’s a smart home?
Smart home technology uses devices such as linking sensors, features and other appliances connected to the internet of things (IoT) that can be remotely monitored, controlled or accessed and provide services that respond to the needs of the users.Wikipedia
The ControlPanel
We will build a simple web page that will work as a control panel for the user allows him to control any home appliance connected to our system. To build the web page we will use:
HTML
CSS
Jquery
The Embedded Hardware
the web page sends some orders to the ESP8266-01 which is working as a web server connected to the Arduino board. And according to the incoming data, the Arduino board will take some actions like turning on the bulb, turning off the TV and in this part, we will use:
Arduino
ESP8266-01
Getting Started with the ESP8266-01
As we stated before, we need our Arduino board to get connected to the Internet but the Arduino Nano the version which we are using today doesn’t have that feature. So, we will use the ESP8266-01 wifi module to add the wifi feature to our tiny Arduino board.
there are a lot of ESP wifi modules models out there, which one should I choose?! Well, almost all the ESP family wifi modules out there will do the job well but each one has its own features and specifications. I encourage you to look at each one specifications and features to choose the most suitable one for your needs.”