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Installation

The default Debian installation in Raspbian does not have Pico TTS available, it's in the "non-free" repository. So I had to install that first. The Ansible Playbook:

- name: add Debian non-free signing key
  apt_key:
    url: https://ftp-master.debian.org/keys/release-10.asc
    keyring: /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/debian-10.gpg
    state: present

- name: add Debian non-free repository
  apt_repository:
    repo: "deb http://deb.debian.org/debian {{ ansible_distribution_release }} non-free"
    filename: "non-free"
    state: present
    update_cache: yes
  register: non_free_repository

Then install the Pico TTS package:

- name: Install TTS packages
  apt:
    name:
      - libttspico-utils
    state: present

And configure it in openHAB:

- name: Set TTS settings
  lineinfile:
    dest: /etc/openhab2/services/runtime.cfg
    regexp: "{{ item.regexp }}"
    line: "{{ item.line }}"
    state: "{{ item.state }}"
  loop:
    - { regexp: '^#? ?org.eclipse.smarthome.voice:defaultTTS=', line: 'org.eclipse.smarthome.voice:defaultTTS=PicoTTS', state: present }
    - { regexp: '^#? ?org.eclipse.smarthome.voice:defaultVoice=', line: 'org.eclipse.smarthome.voice:defaultVoice=picotts:enUS', state: present }
  notify:
    - restart openhab2

Rules

In my rules file for the washing machine and the dryer I expanded the notification a bit:

if (now.isAfter(now.withTimeAtStartOfDay.plusHours(6).plusMinutes(0)) && now.isBefore(now.withTimeAtStartOfDay.plusHours(23).plusMinutes(0))) {
    if ({{ CC_Kitchen_Audio|replace(':','_') }}_volume.state != 50) {
        {{ CC_Kitchen_Audio|replace(':','_') }}_volume.sendCommand(50)
    }
    playSound("{{ CC_Kitchen_Audio }}", "computerbeep_55.mp3")
    Thread::sleep(500)
    say("Washing machine is finished", "picotts:enUS", "{{ CC_Kitchen_Audio }}")
}

The "{{ CC_Kitchen_Audio }}" is replaced by Ansible with the actual details of the ChromeCast. I described the details in this blog posting.

The "say()" command accepts 3 parameters:

• The text
• The language (US english here)
• The audio sink (the ChromeCast)

Before the text is spoken, I also output a short beep, to raise attention and activate the ChromeCast. And I set the volume to 50 percent if that is not yet the case.

Finally all of this only happens if the time is between 6 in the morning and 11 in the evening. Don't want the system to talk in the middle of the night, if someone might sleep in the next room.