As a home automation self-described scientist, this is a spot-on, genius, and well-written piece. Absolutely thorough, and I appreciated it completely.
Some of the more nefarious things I have done is created a netflix and chill mode that turns on my candle warmers, sets the lights, turns off devices, and starts music, all by the "rhythm" detected on the pressure mat. It is also triggered by Alexa.
Another cool thing that I did is I connected a smoke machine (I was a DJ), to my alarm. So if my alarm was tripped, the AC will turn on blast (cool air slows fog disperation),all the lights & strips turn red, and the switch on the smoke machine turned on. I had it under the couch and the power button pushed down. It will time out automatically after 2 minutes. Then cycle again. ( I have a cool video if you ever want to see it, lol).
Your use of voltage... FREAKING GENIUS. Genius. Genius. I love it. I look forward to following and updates you post in the future. This page is monitored also for changes. It will flick my lights and update my alexa, lol.