WebCoRE asks a question, my voice response determines the action

[Koyfam]

I need some inspiration to use this more. My creativity has become drained recently lol.

What are some things you’re using it for @WCmore?

[WCmore]

I need some inspiration to use this more

Here are a few ideas from earlier in this thread…

Walking in to a home theater room, webCoRE can asks if I’d like to watch a movie.
Telling Alexa “Yes” could turn on the right devices, and set the mood lighting.
Telling Alexa “No” could open the blinds or whatever…
And simply ignoring the question could keep the room the way it is…

WebCoRE asking me, “Have you taken the garbage to the street yet?”, and me responding with, “Alexa yes” would stop the remaining notifications.

or…

For those with an unpredictable work schedule, the good night piston can ask if I work the following day… and do different things depending on my answer…

or…

Staying in the bathroom just a little too long, webCoRE could ask me if I need help…
(it could bring a laugh, or it could save a life, depending on the answer & the piston)

I know someone who often forgets to take their medicine in the morning. At a certain time, this program can ask them if they’ve taken their medicine. If yes, then it stops. If no, then a friendly reminder. If there’s no response, it should wait and ask again until a response is given, or perhaps send a text message to their phone.

it should therefore ask me “you seem to be on your way to bed. Would you like the downstairs lights to be turned off?”

someone was trying to make sure their dogs were fed twice a day, by using the door contact sensor on the pantry. In a case like this, we could program webCoRE to ask, “Are you feeding the dogs now?” whenever the pantry was opened during a certain time period… If we reply “Yes”, then subsequent pantry opens would not ask the question until the next meal time slot.

… just to mention a few…

[itg]

Thank you again @WCmore for this great idea! I came up with another interesting use and wanted to share.

My Scenario
I have my Smart Home Monitor armed at night for all doors and have it turn off automatically at a set time in the morning when I am home, however sometimes the dogs get me up earlier than the time set to disarm and I take them out through the basement and always forget to disable the SHM, triggering the alarm.

MySolution
IF my presence is detected at home and I enter the basement while the SHM is armed(stay) the motion detector picks up motion, triggers Alexa to ask me if I would like to disarm the SHM, I simply respond with my custom Alexa routine.

Example…

Half asleep I stumble into basement, Alexa says, good morning, would you like me to disable the Alarm?

I respond with Alexa, yes, alarm code one two three four

That’s not the real phrase (my luggage pin though), but allows me to keep a somewhat “secure” code to it so a simple yes from anyone will not disarm it.

[WCmore]

Not a bad idea at all @itg… You could “beef” it up a bit by also adding a time restriction. (IE: only if between 5 and 6am) This would prevent it from being used at other times…

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For awhile, I was contemplating using a rolling password that changes every day, so that even if someone overheard one, that password would not be re-used for at least 7 days…

The trick is coming up with some sort of internal method (mnemonic device) to remember the current password, LOL

Shoot me a PM if you want a few ideas…
(Warning: Code has to be added for each and every password, so it’s not quick)

[Koyfam]

sorry, drawing a blank here but where does a code come into play for changing SHM state?

[itg]

I use the code as part of the Alexa routine so that if an intruder triggers the motion instead of me, they simply can’t say Alexa yes, or yes to disarm it.

The “code” is essentially the Alexa routine’s “When you say” portion which will trigger the virtual switch I created specifically for this, not the standard Alexa yes virtual switch.

For example:
A routine that is “When you say” Yes, code is four four four five nine seven two (or whatever you want it to be.) When Alexa gets the right response she will trigger the virtual switch which will disable the alarm. Wrong response and it repeats, no response and it repeats. If door is opened and SHM is not disabled, it would trigger the alarm.

I could also trigger alarm with no response / improper response, I have not done that yet though. I will see how this works for me first.

[itg]

ea at all @itg… You could “beef” it up a bit by also adding a time restriction. (IE: only if between 5 and 6am) T

The time restriction is a thought, but sometimes it could be in the middle of the night so I left that out. The rolling password would be good, but I fear I would forgot which password I am on! No tricks can help this memory! LOL

[WCmore]

One other thought for a bit more security…

If you normally go straight from the bedroom to let the dogs out, you can add a conditional statement that checks to see if the bedroom motion is still active before asking for the password. If the bedroom is inactive, then it can go straight to the alarm mode.

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Essentially, I usually try to find a pattern with the user’s routine, and then use another condition to verify that it is indeed you opening the basement.

[Rich_N]

Oh this is good. I read to the bit I needed and I’ve set a Piston using EchoSpeaks.

When my Study PIR detects motion She who shall not be named now asks if I want to hear music - I answer yes and she searches for music and automatically plays it! Nice.

I used the Boolean variable thing to prevent Madam from asking again.

Seems to work nicely.

I will have to try this with other Pistons!

Thanks

[Rich_N]

Found a problem with my version - it worked earlier but won’t now. The Boolean variable defaults to ‘True’ in the Defined section and won’t ask the question. If I manually set it to false then every time I move she asks if I want to hear music!

Here is a screenie of my Piston:-

Any ideas?

Rich

Edit

Figured it out, the final Statement - Set Variable = False - should not have been nested with the others. It needed to be in it’s own statement.

[WCmore]

You might have already tweaked it… but just so you are aware…

Piston n6pz has one trigger: Motion Sensor 2’s motion.

This means the piston will run top to bottom each time the motion changes to active or inactive.

[Rich_N]

Yeah, I tweaked it and now it works perfectly thanks.

[lflorack]

@WCmore

As of today, when I say, “Alexa, Yes” or “Alexa, No” in response to a programmed question/response/action as discussed in this thread, my Alexas now say, "Sorry. This phrase is no longer supported. Please go to the Alexa app to choose another phrase."

I’ve now changed my Alexa routines to listen for, “Yes, please” and “No, thank you”. We’ll see if that works OK. I think Echo may be reserving ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ for responses to questions IT asks.

[WCmore]

Sorry. This phrase is no longer supported

Alexa has blocked many phrases lately. I am trying to think of a natural phrase to replace “Alexa Yes” and “Alexa No”…

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Thankfully, the only edit required is in the Alexa Routine…

IE: Change the words highlighted below:

[lflorack]

Alexa has blocked many phrases lately. I am trying to think of a natural phrase to replace “Alexa Yes” and “Alexa No”…

Thankfully, the only edit required is in the Alexa Routine…

I agree that it is easily corrected to something of your choice. I’ve changed mine to “Yes, please” and “No, thank you” to see how those work out.

[WCmore]

Did they work?

[lflorack]

They work fine as far as Alexa, ST and WebCore are concerned. I was speaking of how they’d work from a memory and flow standpoint for my wife and I. So far, so good for us too.

[WCmore]

I gotta say, if we could not adapt (to changing technology), then our SmartHomes would become very dumb, LOL

[Terminal]

THanks WCmore. I had an idea today that I wanted to add a yes no question to a piston and I had come to the conclusion that I should do it somehow with simulated switches, but had only a vague notion of how I would do it in my head. Just before starting to try and code something up I did a search and well this made things much simpler.

My litter box reminder piston now will ask if we cleaned it, if we say yes then it resets the reminder, if we answer no or don’t say anything it tells us the last time it was cleaned.

If ST screws up webcore too bad when they switch over I am going to be .

[audiofreak9]

I changed mine to “Alexa okay” and “Alexa not now”, but I think yours are a bit more natural and memorable. I’ve struggled to ge the family to remember my new phrasing.