Tommy – Turn ESP32 devices into through-wall motion sensors
Hi HN! I would like to present my project called TOMMY, which turns ESP32 devices into motion sensors that work through walls and obstacles using Wi-Fi sensing. TOMMY started as a project for my own use. I was frustrated with motion sensors that didn't detect stationary presence and left dead zones everywhere. Presence sensors existed but were expensive and needed one per room. I explored echo localization first, but microphones listening 24/7 felt too creepy. Then I discovered Wi-Fi sensing - a huge research topic but nothing production-ready yet. It ticked all the boxes: could…
In plain words
Tommy is software that transforms ESP32 devices into motion sensors using Wi-Fi sensing technology to detect movement through walls and obstacles. It addresses limitations of traditional motion sensors by eliminating dead zones and detecting stationary presence without requiring multiple expensive devices per room. The system operates wirelessly through walls and furniture, making it suitable for home automation and security applications where conventional motion sensors fall short.
written from the facts on this page · September 2026
From the sources
In the maker’s words, at launch
Hi HN! I would like to present my project called TOMMY, which turns ESP32 devices into motion sensors that work through walls and obstacles using Wi-Fi sensing. TOMMY started as a project for my own use. I was frustrated with motion sensors that didn't detect stationary presence and left dead zones everywhere. Presence sensors existed but were expensive and needed one per room. I explored echo localization first, but microphones listening 24/7 felt too creepy. Then I discovered Wi-Fi sensing - a huge research topic but nothing production-ready yet. It ticked all the boxes: could theoretically detect stationary presence through breathing/micromovements and worked through walls and furniture so devices could be hidden away. Two years and dozens of research papers later, TOMMY has evolved into software I'm honestly quite proud of. Although it doesn't have stationary presence detection yet (coming Q1 2026) it detects motion really well. It works as a Home Assistant Add-on or Docker container, supports a range of ESP32 devices, and can be flashed through the built-in tool or used alongside existing ESPHome setups. I released the first version a couple of months ago on Home Assistant's subreddit and got a lot of interest and positive feedback. More than 200 people joined the Discord community and almost 2,000 downloaded it. Right now TOMMY is in beta, which is completely free for everyone to use. I'm also offering free lifetime licenses to every beta user who joins the Discord channel. You can read more about the project on https://www.tommysense.com. Please join the Discord channel if you are interested in the project. A note on open source: There's been a lot of interest in having TOMMY as an open source project, which I fully understand. I'm reluctant to open source before reaching sustainability, as I'd love to work on this full time. However, privacy is verifiable - it's 100% local with no data collection (easily confirmed via packet sniffing or network isolation). Happy to help anyone verify this.
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