Amazon Echo / Alexa

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@Michael-Rudek , @michbeck100

i donk know much about coding but maybe this helps

https://github.com/amzn/alexa-coho

Still waiting for an invitiation would love to help with the development. Anyone knows a way to speed up invitation process?

@thex

i’m living in austia and i’ve ordered it in UK via ebay, got it 7 days later with GLS

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Amazon-ECHO-DOT-2nd-Generation-Boxed-And-Factory-Sealed-UK-Version/332021885712?_trksid=p2047675.c100011.m1850&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D38661%26meid%3D2e3a387ea8c34fb09c822c751964e422%26pid%3D100011%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D12%26sd%3D262715479115

in the box was the UK-Power Adapter, but the dot works with an micro-usb-cable connected on a USB3.0 port on pc too.

first the standart-language was english but after config via alexa-app the echo use the location service from amazon and update the correct location-based firmware itself.

and now i’m playing around with nice tutorials like http://tobuildsomething.com/2015/08/14/Amazon-Echo-Alexa-Tutorial-The-Definitive-Guide-to-Coding-an-Alexa-Skill/ to create some local alexa-skills

@thex said in Amazon Echo / Alexa:

would love to help with the development

as mentioned earlier it is possible to start the development without having the device in place

EDIT: Most of the development can be done without having the Echo devioce in place. There are also services to emulate an Echo device for testing. https://echosim.io/welcome?next=%2F

See also https://arc.applause.com/2016/05/31/amazon-echo-web-browser/

I can also help if needed, it can be really great to have pimatic devices discovered by alexa

every help in plugin development is very welcome

but to not invent the wheel twice, there should be one repository for all to contribute to - just my 2 cents.
would suggest @mwittig to maintain then (maybe as co maintainer or owner) if this is possible at all …
what do you think?

see it this way.

@mwittig has a “naked” project folder here

so @developer 's… my echo was ready to response… i wanna see some pull requests here

hmm… maybe the domoticz-bridge could be “convert” it into pimatic…

edit: and a sample how to translate to be multilingual found here

@xCite86 But is anyone working on this already? If more than one person is going to work on this, then there should be some coordination, so that they don’t work both on the same think.

By the way, for those who do not have an echo, you can use Alexa from the browser: https://echosim.io/welcome

@abmantis

i dont know if anybody is working on a alexa smarthome skill but i found a nice solution based on the fauxmos-script - called hue-bridge

it was really easy to get them on a raspberry pi to run:

$ wget https://github.com/bwssytems/ha-bridge/releases/download/v3.5.1/ha-bridge-3.5.1.jar

$ java -jar -Dserver.port=90 ha-bridge-3.5.1.jar

… to run them on port 90

(java 1.8 should be installed and active, check with $ javac -version and $ java -version)

thats it after them you have a easy to configure webinterface:

with “Manual Add” i create some devices witch i would control via Alexa

As Example:

for Controlling a max! thermostat i use this config:

ON-URL

http://user:password@192.168.0.200/api/device/SleeproomHeatingThermostat/changeTemperatureTo?temperatureSetpoint=20.5

DIM-URL

http://user:password@192.168.0.200/api/device/SleeproomHeatingThermostat/changeTemperatureTo?temperatureSetpoint=${intensity.percent}

OFF-URL

http://user:password@192.168.0.200/api/device/SleeproomHeatingThermostat/changeTemperatureTo?temperatureSetpoint=4.5

For a switch device:

ON-URL

http://user:password@192.168.0.200/api/device/switch_kue/turnOn

OFF-URL

http://user:password@192.168.0.200/api/device/switch_kue/turnOff

For a milight-device:

ON-URL

http://user:password@192.168.0.200/api/device/milight-rgb-controller/turnOn

DIM-URL

http://user:password@192.168.0.200/api/device/milight-rgb-controller/changeDimlevelTo?dimlevel=${intensity.percent}

OFF-URL

http://user:password@192.168.0.200/api/device/milight-rgb-controller/turnOff

also controlling a group of devices was possible:

ON-URL

[
{"item":"http://user:password@192.168.0.200/api/device/WorkroomHeatingThermostat/changeTemperatureTo?temperatureSetpoint=20.5"},
{"item":"http://user:password@192.168.0.200/api/device/LivingroomHeatingThermostat/changeTemperatureTo?temperatureSetpoint=19"},
{"item":"http://user:password@192.168.0.200/api/device/KitchenHeatingThermostat/changeTemperatureTo?temperatureSetpoint=20.5"},
{"item":"http://user:password@192.168.0.200/api/device/ChildroomHeatingThermostat/changeTemperatureTo?temperatureSetpoint=20.5"},
{"item":"http://user:password@192.168.0.200/api/device/SleeproomHeatingThermostat/changeTemperatureTo?temperatureSetpoint=20.5"}
]

DIM-URL

[
{"item":"http://user:password@192.168.0.200/api/device/WorkroomHeatingThermostat/changeTemperatureTo?temperatureSetpoint=${intensity.percent}"},
{"item":"http://user:password@192.168.0.200/api/device/LivingroomHeatingThermostat/changeTemperatureTo?temperatureSetpoint=${intensity.percent}"},
{"item":"http://user:password@192.168.0.200/api/device/KitchenHeatingThermostat/changeTemperatureTo?temperatureSetpoint=${intensity.percent}"},
{"item":"http://user:password@192.168.0.200/api/device/ChildroomHeatingThermostat/changeTemperatureTo?temperatureSetpoint=${intensity.percent}"},
{"item":"http://user:password@192.168.0.200/api/device/SleeproomHeatingThermostat/changeTemperatureTo?temperatureSetpoint=${intensity.percent}"}
]

OFF-URL

[
{"item":"http://user:password@192.168.0.200/api/device/WorkroomHeatingThermostat/changeTemperatureTo?temperatureSetpoint=4.5"},
{"item":"http://user:password@192.168.0.200/api/device/LivingroomHeatingThermostat/changeTemperatureTo?temperatureSetpoint=4.5"},
{"item":"http://user:password@192.168.0.200/api/device/KitchenHeatingThermostat/changeTemperatureTo?temperatureSetpoint=4.5"},
{"item":"http://user:password@192.168.0.200/api/device/ChildroomHeatingThermostat/changeTemperatureTo?temperatureSetpoint=4.5"},
{"item":"http://user:password@192.168.0.200/api/device/SleeproomHeatingThermostat/changeTemperatureTo?temperatureSetpoint=4.5"}
]

but group Devices was also possible in Alexa Smart Home:

and after them i say “alexa, discover devices” (or “alexa, suche geräte” for german)

and after 20 seconds they was listed as smart-home devices

for me

“Alexa, schalte im Arbeitszimmer die Heizung ein” (Alexa, turn the workroom heating on)
“Alexa, Arbeitszimmer Heizung aus” (Alexa, Workroom heating off)
“Alexa, stelle im Arbeitszimmer die Heizung auf 14 Grad” (Alexa, set Workroom heating to 14 degrees)
“Alexa, schalte alle Heizungen aus” (Alexa, turn off all heatings)
“Alexa, schalte im Badezimmer das Radio ein” (Alexa, Turn the bath radio on)
“Alexa, schalte in der Küche das Licht ein” (Alexa, switch the litchen light on)
“Alexa, schalte im Schlafzimmer das Nachtlicht ein” (Alexa, nightlight in sleepingroom on)
“Alexa, stelle im Schlafzimmer das Nachtlicht auf 40 Prozent” (Alexa, turn the sleeproon nightlight to 40 percent)

… works well, Alexa response with “okay”

very nice!! for your main devices surely a good workaround but some work to setup.
but once running it seems to be a nice application. still waiting for an invitation from amazon (yes i know about the possibility to ship from the uk but …)

@xCite86 great! this will be my next project!

Couldn’t wait and started quickly! Damn thats so easy! Already added my heating as device to the bridge and it works as intended! When back home I will try to replace my real hue bridge!

@xCite86 THX!
The hue-bridge is really nice. It also supports the logitech harmony hub!

It think to use the amazon echo the hub is a good interface.
Instead to make a pimatic plugin to interact with the echo directly
maybe a integration from the hub side to discover all pimatic commands would be more effective.

I have to wait another week for my echo

Using the HA-bridge here too.
Works perfectly with Alexa
Thanks for the dim URLs, wasn’t really sure how to use them

@Cryonic90 do you have a harmony remote? tried to pair the HA Bridge with it but it keeps saying no device found

EDIT: Directly adding is not possible. You have to go to “Devices -> Scan Network”

@kosta I dont have an Amazon dot yet. Still waiting for an invitation…

thanks for the positive replies

so on… its saturday, girfriend went out for christmas shopping with her friends…
and i’m playing around a little bit more with ha-bridge and giving you a short howto start/wol-wake and shutdown the computer with alexa
(and btw ordering some christmas gifts with alexa ^^)

for info: my computer was running on windows 10, 64-bit, ha-bridge/pimatic on raspberry pi with jessie.

First Part: set up windows for “receiving” remote shutdown-commands

create a user that will be used for remotely shutdown:

1. run “lusrmgr.msc”

create a new user with password that will be used for remote shutdown.
In my case user: remote, pw: remote

http://www.youscreen.de/tlyyhxckm14.jpg

2. run “secpol.msc”

in the program tree, open "Security Settings / Local Policies / User rights Assignment (Lokale Richtlinien - Zuweisen von Benutzerrechten)"
Find the entry “Force shutdown from a remote system (Herunterfahren des Systems)”
Edit the entry, add the “remote” user that will be used for shutdown.

3. Run regedit.exe as Administrator

find HKLM/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Policies/System
create a new registry DWORD(32) value named “LocalAccountTokenFilterPolicy” and then assign it the value ‘1’

4. Setup remote registry service:

open “cmd.exe” as administrator
execute the two following commands:

sc config RemoteRegistry start= auto
sc start RemoteRegistry

Second Part: set up the pi for sending the commands

1. Install samba for remotely shutdown, etherwake for wake the system

sudo apt-get install samba-common samba-common-bin etherwake

2.) create 2 files.

nano /home/pi/shutdown_WinPC.sh

insert

#!/bin/sh
#Shutdown Computer
# IP of computer and user needed
net rpc -S <windows-pc-ip> -U remote%remote shutdown -t 1 -f

and save them, create the second file

nano /home/pi/start_WinPC.sh

insert

!/bin/sh
# Wakes Up Computer
# MAC of WOL-Computer  needed

sudo etherwake <pc:ma:ca:dr:es:s>

and save it.

3.) try both files if they will work correctly.

with ./home/pi/shutdown_WinPC.sh windows should pop up a short message and shut down after 1 second, with ./home/pi/start_WinPC.shthe pc should be wake up.

Third Part: set up the alexa-device

i name`d it “Computer”

and be sure to set the device-type to “Execute Script/Program”, otherwise the bridge will crash

ON-URL

/home/pi/start_WinPC.sh

OFF-URL

/home/pi/shutdown_WinPC.sh

finish - lean back and become lazy

“Alexa, schalte den Computer ein” (Alexa, turn on the Computer)
“Alexa, schalte den Computer aus” (Alexa, turn the Computer off)

How long will it take, till your Girlfriend comprehends that she can use this Command too…

@Michael-Rudek

for my bank-account i’ll hope… never…
i`ve asked her why she wouldn’t talk with a “machine” like alexa. she thinks that was crazy and she’s feeling indisposed… haha

She will use it! She is a Woman

Sweetheart, come to Bed.
____________________________Just a moment, i want to…
Alexa, switch the Computer off

Hahaha, OWNED

@Michael-Rudek

okay, you’re true…

ooooh nooooooooo…

net rpc -S <windows-pc-ip> -U remote%remote shutdown -t 60 -f

so i have time to kill the shutdown process ^^