Now, nowhere in this process did it ask for the name of my Litter Robot -- technically I could have several in my account (I don't). So not sure if that's normal.
I’m a little bit ashamed to admit it, but I got one a couple months ago and it’s been working great, but only one of my 2 cats uses it, so I still have a litter box to scoop . I didn’t realize that there was an integration for it. I’ll have to see if I can get it to work.
We just adopted a 4 year old cat. Set out one manual litterbox, and the new LR4 (turned off). After 2 days, we detected she had begun to use the LR4. Are about ready to start having the LR4 run automatically. It's seeming to be a very easy integration on the biological side
LOL - I've had two of their Litter Robot 2's -- both eventually died after nearly 2 decades. Daughter has a LR3 -- for her cat. Now that we've adopted a cat, I knew I'd never go back to a manual box. So I choked on the total cost (man, they've tripled in price) -- but it makes night/day difference in the enjoyment of having a cat. And has MASSIVE WAF.
I also see a Roomba in my future. You can use Hubitat to "trigger" the Roomba to go over to the LR4 and sweep in front of it -- each time the cat finishes using the LR4. LOL.
Have you tried the LR support suggestion of letting the manual box get a bit "dirtier" than normal? And to have it next to the LR4? That tends to help a cat "decide" to use the cleaner LR4. Also, putting some of the reticent cat's "poo" into the LR4 so it adds their scent to the litter.
The Litter Robot integration, written by Nate Spencer for SmartThings and ported by Dominick Meglio (@dman2306) to Hubitat, only works for the LR3, which I have. The API for the LR4 is very different. Neither API is published, and everything has been reverse engineered.
Dominic Meglio has left Hubitat for Home Assistant, and Nate Spencer left SmartThings for Home Assistant, too. Nate Spencer has developed an automation for Home Assistant that supports LR3, LR4, and the other LR product, the Feeder Robot. That automation seems to be undergoing continual change and development.
I spoke with Tom Denton, the Director of Software Engineering, a year ago, and he seems like a nice guy, very bright. He had just joined Litter Robot (now, Whisker) a few months before I spoke to him. The original API and mobile app for the LR3 was written by outside contract programmers, and is the API (“Legacy API”) that the Hubitat integration uses. Tom Denton assured me that the Legacy API will not go away even though the older mobile app has been removed from the Google and Apple app stores. A new mobile app was developed, using a Google Firebase API, but that API was scrapped when Tom Denton took over and brought all programming in-house. A new, extensible, API was developed for the new mobile app that supports LR3, LR4, the Feeder Robot, and other products. Nate Spencer’s Home Assistant automation, written in Python, uses this new (still unpublished) API.
If/when Nate Spencer’s Home Assistant automation stabilizes, or if the new Whisker API becomes published, I may port that to Hubitat. I have a LR3, and Dominic Meglio’s port has been rock solid for me.
Until then, if you want to integrate the LR4 with Hubitat, you should spin up a Home Assistant instance on a Raspberry Pi and use the community HADB to bring it into Hubitat.
While a larger project than I thought it'd be -- I can do that. I think I may be able to run HA as a task on my Unraid server (docker might be available).
Thanks for the suggestion and very detailed info on "where we're at". Never crossed my mind that the LR4 would be so different than the LR3.
Oh the humanity! Looks like I'll be sticking with the LR3. Could not do without it and the automation is super helpful. When Alexa announced "Kitty pooper needs attention" that's our call to action.
Surprisingly so. Just be aware that the devices won’t appear in Hubitat until they have an event. Followed the instructions in the thread that @672southmain linked. This was my first time using HA as well. I installed it from the Snap store on a Ubuntu desktop that I set up for Homebridge and Echo Speaks. It found the litter robot automatically, I just had to enter my email and password.
. I didn’t realize that there was an integration for it. I’ll have to see if I can get it to work.
