Ok, so I have done some searches and can’t find an answer. Is it possible to use a piston or something to “fake” a voice command to Alexa? For example, I would like to have a piston run every night at midnight that asks Alexa to set the volume on the Echo to 4 so that if my kids played with it or something, the next time its used it is blasting. I know i can say “Alexa volume 4” every night, but I often forget and it would be nice to have this run as part of my nightly routines. Does anyone know if it there is a way to essentially send a voice command via SmartThings in order to trigger an action on the Echo?
I understand what you are asking, and NO, this is not possible at this time. Unfortunately on AMAZON can wake up an Alexa device or send it commands like that.
But, stayed tuned in to the EchoSistant threads in the ST forum for the upcoming new release… It does things that Amazon will not do for a very long time.
I have a piston I use with the new Sonos One, which has Alexa built-in, to do exactly that. Whenever the Sonos is paused or stops playing for more than 10 minutes, the volume is reset to 30%.
I’ve been monitoring the EchoSistant threads as well to see what capabilities it might add to my remaining echo and dots, as well as the Sono One.
Right? That seems like something so basic. It will convert a voice command into a line of code that make the echo do something, so why not be able to by pass that and just send the command. Thanks for the tip on the EchoSistant, I remember reading about that a while ago, so I’ll have to subscribe to that thread again and watch for the latest release.
I apologize for reviving this old thread, but for those watching this topic, I have good news.
I have found a way to use webCoRE to control every aspect of an Amazon Alexa Echo…
Depending on what you have laying around the house, your investment may only be $5
@WCmore
Sorry for so long between my replies, etc. I only have a limited amount of time for HA these days, and I have to ‘pick my battles’ lol…like, which fun thing do I want to spend it on this week?
Anyway…
If I’m understanding correctly, that system uses audible spoken words as the trigger mechanism that gives commands to Alexa; meaning, the only thing different is whose voice is speaking the commands, mine or the Android’s.
If so, that is not what I’m looking for.
I want to be able to control Alexa/Echo programmatically and silently, without the need for audible/spoken words at all.
I know it’s possible, because I can click a button within the Alexa app, and have it do something. I just want to know if anyone has figured out a way of accessing that sort of functionality to use it outside of the Alexa app yet.
e.g. I want to be able to set the volume of an Echo or Echo Dot device by sending it a command to do so from SmartThings, or IFTTT, or whatever (or my original e.g. above that would allow me to control whether it’s playing this or that based on presence, etc).
Yes, this is true. WebCoRE speaks a command outloud, and Alexa does whatever you want her to do.
This is built-in… Basically, Alexa controlling Alexa…
From what I have seen, Amazon wants Alexa to be used to initiate commands. They don’t want us to use Alexa as an endpoint. (or be controlled by other devices)
All methods I have ever seen are a hack or workaround of some type. The difference with the method linked above is it can actually run any and all commands, and Alexa will respond accordingly. (even Alexa Skills such as, “Alexa, open rainforest”)
Personally, I absolutely love this method, and have many many pistons programmed to include Alexa commands. I hope one day they open up their API to us, but this is a great workable solution in the meantime.
