Smart home technology is already worthy of admiration from the Jetsons. Automatic coffee makers, auto-locking doors, and lights that turn your living room into a rave — what’s not to love? But one man has taken smart home tech a step further to create any Legend of Zelda fan’s dream: A smart home controlled entirely by an ocarina.
Allen Pan, a freelance engineer, celebrated the release of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild by wiring his home to respond to specific songs played from an ocarina — more specifically, the iconic Ocarina of Time from the beloved Nintendo 64 classic The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
The song Zelda’s Lullaby unlocks his front door, Sun’s Song turns on his smart lights, and the Bolero of Fire turns on his fireplace. Pan has used almost every one of the songs in the game in some way or another: Epona’s Song unlocks his car doors; Song of Storms turns on his humidifier. He even built a personalized caller to help him find his phone. All he has to do is play Saria’s Song.
All of these nerdy-but-awesome features were done with more than just standard smart home technology. Pan used a Raspberry Pi, a microphone, and Wi-Fi modules to create the listening aspect of the system. A variety of switches and toggles were used to manually turn on appliances throughout the home.
This was not Pan’s first rodeo in creating homages to his favorite fandoms. On Sufficiently Advanced, his YouTube channel, he has created everything from real-life laser swords to working Wonder Woman gauntlets.
The full video of his Zelda-inspired smart home is available on YouTube. At the time of writing, just shy of 3 million people have watched it. If you’re interested in building a system like this of your own, it will take work. A basic smart home setup is a good way to learn and can teach the basics of what will be needed to Zelda up your home.
While not feasible for everyone with a smart home, Pan’s ocarina-controlled home is the kind of thing Zelda fans dream of.
