Now you can let GLaDOS from Portal control your smart home, complete with potato (2025)

You know, for an AI that is hellbent on trying to destroy the main character, a lot of people want some sort of GLaDOS replica in their homes. However, none has been so brave as to give the cold and scheming artificial intelligence control over their smart homes. If you're crazy enough to do that (I'm looking at you, Ayush Pande), then this project is for you. You can even make your own potato to stick her to, if you want.

This GLaDOS smart home controller comes with its own potato

In a post on Hackster.io, tinkerer Pham Binh created an AI assistant modelled after GLaDOS from the Portal series. The best bit is, it doesn't cost a lot to make, unlike trying to recreate the supercomputer GLaDOS in your home lab:

If you're a Portal fan like me, get ready to be excited! I've created what might be the coolest real-life Potato GLaDOS ever. This isn't just a static model - it can speak, think, and even control my smart home through Home Assistant. The best part? It costs less than $50 to build (assuming you already have Home Assistant running).

Pham Binh notes that you could use a real potato if you really want to (for that extra authenticity), but they note that it might cause some issues with the electronics. As such, they opt for a 3D-printed version, because (of course) someone has already uploaded a 3D model of the Portal 2 potato for people to 3D print.

The project uses a handful of AI tools to get the job done. For the voice activation recognition, Pham Binh used Whisper from OpenAI. It then parses the request using Gemini, and then uses Piper with a GLaDOS voice model to give the verbal reply. And yes, it all uses Home Assistant to control the smart devices.

If you like the idea of making your own smart home hub, you're not alone. People have been hard at work using their SBCs to control their entire home, and the results are really impressive. Check out these 10 tips to turn your Raspberry Pi into a smart home hub for more information on how you can do that; I promise none of them use a scary AI as its base.