Alexa groups

[stusviews]

I maintain that using my voice to turn on a light utilizes AI. I believe that the scientific term for this phenomenon is Conversational Artificial Intelligence.l

 

Wow.  I don't understand how you can justify that statement.

 

Yeah, let's just continue to let bad information stand as fact.

 

Not made up by me. Do your own search. I lust after new knowledge/factual information. I also try to clearly indicate when something is my belief/opinion

[stusviews]

So you surely found Conversational Artificial Intelligence. Here's another interesting term I came across:

 

Jabberwacky (not jabberwocky) is a chatterbot created by British programmer Rollo Carpenter. Its stated aim is to "simulate natural human chat in an interesting, entertaining and humorous manner". It is an early attempt at creating an artificial intelligence through human interaction.

[Michel Kohanim]

What a waste of time. Need I say more?

 

New forum rule:

If you want to change the topic to some nonsensical dissertation on some other subject, POST THEM IN THE COFFEE SHOP. Or, I will move them myself or will delete them.

 

What a waste ....

[asbril]

What a waste of time. Need I say more?

 

New forum rule:

If you want to change the topic to some nonsensical dissertation on some other subject, POST THEM IN THE COFFEE SHOP. Or, I will move them myself or will delete them.

 

What a waste ....

And please let us not get angry at each other, even if you strongly disagree.  We all want the same super duper home automation, with ISY leading the way.

[drprm1]

And please let us not get angry at each other, even if you strongly disagree.  We all want the same super duper home automation, with ISY leading the way.

Now lets go out there and win one for the gipper!!

[Rob]

Getting back on topic, unless I'm missing something I'm a bit disappointed in the new groups. While I can create a group and assign an Alexa device as well as other smarthome devices to it, I'm still unable to obtain my ultimate goal of "Alexa Turn Off the Lights" without using multiple accounts. I created 3 groups (Office, Living Room, Master Bedroom), assigned an Alexa device to each as well as an ISY scene. In each group I renamed the scene from "Living Room Lights" (or "Office Lights" or "Master Bedroom Lights") to simply "Lights". So far so good. Where it falls apart is when I'm in the appropriate room and say "Alexa Turn Off the Lights", she will respond "OK" but may turn on any 1 of the 3 "Lights" scenes, regardless of the room I'm in. Basically she cycles through each instance of "Lights" so if I repeat myself 3x from the Living Room, I'll end up with lights on in all 3 rooms. Anyone else having this issue?

 

I do like the new Routines feature however. Much nicer to say "Alexa, goodbye" instead of "Alexa, turn on Away Mode"

[G W]

Getting back on topic, unless I'm missing something I'm a bit disappointed in the new groups. While I can create a group and assign an Alexa device as well as other smarthome devices to it, I'm still unable to obtain my ultimate goal of "Alexa Turn Off the Lights" without using multiple accounts. I created 3 groups (Office, Living Room, Master Bedroom), assigned an Alexa device to each as well as an ISY scene. In each group I renamed the scene from "Living Room Lights" (or "Office Lights" or "Master Bedroom Lights") to simply "Lights". So far so good. Where it falls apart is when I'm in the appropriate room and say "Alexa Turn Off the Lights", she will respond "OK" but may turn on any 1 of the 3 "Lights" scenes, regardless of the room I'm in. Basically she cycles through each instance of "Lights" so if I repeat myself 3x from the Living Room, I'll end up with lights on in all 3 rooms. Anyone else having this issue?

 

I do like the new Routines feature however. Much nicer to say "Alexa, goodbye" instead of "Alexa, turn on Away Mode"

I think we need to wait for V3 of the ISY portal. 

[toflaherty]

I think we need to wait for V3 of the ISY portal. 

Apologies if this has been asked already, but I couldn't find the answer.  Does Amazon give any indication whatsoever on how long it takes to approve a skill?  Is past history any indication of what the current wait time is?

 

It seems like v3 was submitted in early October and we are still waiting to see it available through the alexa app.

[G W]

Apologies if this has been asked already, but I couldn't find the answer. Does Amazon give any indication whatsoever on how long it takes to approve a skill? Is past history any indication of what the current wait time is?

 

It seems like v3 was submitted in early October and we are still waiting to see it available through the alexa app.

I am not answering for UDI. I have seen some approved in days and I know there are some almost three months old.

 

We're frustrated a lot. We can only imagine how much Michel is. He's getting in on every side.

Edited November 9, 2017 by Gary Funk

[toflaherty]

I am not answering for UDI. I have seen some approved in days and I know there are some almost three months old.

 

We're frustrated a lot. We can only imagine how much Michel is. He's getting in on every side.

That's all I was looking for. Thanks. Surprised the spread of approval time is that large. Not good for them...

 

Sent from my LG-H915 using Tapatalk

[G W]

That's all I was looking for. Thanks. Surprised the spread of approval time is that large. Not good for them...

 

Sent from my LG-H915 using Tapatalk

It's not good for any of us.

 

I can only "assume" Amazon checks for future reservered words and double checks other portals to see if there is some conflict. Truthfully I'm just guessing. There is something causing the delay and we will probably never know.

 

Sent from my SM-G955U1 using Tapatalk

[stusviews]

Getting back on topic, unless I'm missing something I'm a bit disappointed in the new groups. While I can create a group and assign an Alexa device as well as other smarthome devices to it, I'm still unable to obtain my ultimate goal of "Alexa Turn Off the Lights" without using multiple accounts. I created 3 groups (Office, Living Room, Master Bedroom), assigned an Alexa device to each as well as an ISY scene. In each group I renamed the scene from "Living Room Lights" (or "Office Lights" or "Master Bedroom Lights") to simply "Lights". So far so good. Where it falls apart is when I'm in the appropriate room and say "Alexa Turn Off the Lights", she will respond "OK" but may turn on any 1 of the 3 "Lights" scenes, regardless of the room I'm in. Basically she cycles through each instance of "Lights" so if I repeat myself 3x from the Living Room, I'll end up with lights on in all 3 rooms. Anyone else having this issue?

 

I do like the new Routines feature however. Much nicer to say "Alexa, goodbye" instead of "Alexa, turn on Away Mode"

 

If I'm reading your post correctly, then what I've emphasized in red, above, seem to be the problem. You need one group, not three. First, assign a port name each device/scene in the group a meaningful name, but one you'll never use, for example, OFClight, LRlight and MBRlight. Second, create a name for the group. Third , add each device/scene to the same one group you just named.

 

Don't forget to forget the device/scenes involved that you've already added to the Alexa. Alexa never forgets unless it's specifically told to, even if you change "spokens" in the portal. If not intentionally forgotten, Alexa will keep the old spoken and add the new one.

[Rob]

Thanks for the suggestion stusviews, but I don’t think that achieves the results I am looking for. I want to be able to say “Alexa turn off the lights” and the lights in the room I am currently in turn off. I want to avoid having to specify the room. One command that works everywhere in the house is much easier for visitors, kids, or those with speech impediments. Please correct me if I’m wrong about my understanding of the new groups feature.

[Goose66]

Thanks for the suggestion stusviews, but I don’t think that achieves the results I am looking for. I want to be able to say “Alexa turn off the lights” and the lights in the room I am currently in turn off. I want to avoid having to specify the room. One command that works everywhere in the house is much easier for visitors, kids, or those with speech impediments. Please correct me if I’m wrong about my understanding of the new groups feature.

 

Nor does StuViews suggestion match the Amazon tutorials for the new Smart Home capabilities and groups.

 

I noted this in another thread, but I don't see anything in the new API ("capabilities" or message payloads) that supports the new intelligent Group capability - I believe it is supposed to be implemented in the Alexa device and not in the ISY portal service. So I don't think it is necessary to wait on the v3 Smart Home Skill from ISY to be approved to get this functionality.

 

According to the tutorial, you are supposed to be able to add devices and an Alexa device to a group, and then use short cuts like "Alexa, Lights On" to turn on all the lights in that group. I don't think it is necessary to rename your scene or device to "lights," just add it to the group (they add "Game Room Light" device to the "Game Room" group in the web tutorial). If there are multiple lighting devices in the group, then it should send commands to the ISY through the API to turn them all on.

 

That said, I can't get this to work either. So don't know what the problem is. I will keep trying and let you know how it works out.

 

EDIT: Details of my trial:

 

I added two ISY scenes: "Living Room Lights" and "Office Lights" and rediscovered devices. These devices work by name from all of my Alexa devices. I added the Echo in the living room and the "Living Room Lights" to a group called "Living Room." If I say "Alexa, turn off the living room lights" it works, but "Alexa, turn off the lights" or "Alexa, lights off" comes back with "Sorry, I didn't find lights." Exact same setup and scenario in the office. This is exactly what they show in the tutorial, except it's called "Game Room" and they add an AV control device to the group, as well.

Edited November 10, 2017 by kingwr

[asbril]

Nor does StuViews suggestion match the Amazon tutorials for the new Smart Home capabilities and groups.

 

I noted this in another thread, but I don't see anything in the new API ("capabilities" or message payloads) that supports the new intelligent Group capability - I believe it is supposed to be implemented in the Alexa device and not in the ISY portal service. So I don't think it is necessary to wait on the v3 Smart Home Skill from ISY to be approved to get this functionality.

 

According to the tutorial, you are supposed to be able to add devices and an Alexa device to a group, and then use short cuts like "Alexa, Lights On" to turn on all the lights in that group. I don't think it is necessary to rename your scene or device to "lights," just add it to the group (they add "Game Room Light" device to the "Game Room" group in the web tutorial). If there are multiple lighting devices in the group, then it should send commands to the ISY through the API to turn them all on.

 

That said, I can't get this to work either. So don't know what the problem is. I will keep trying and let you know how it works out.

Interesting issue that I follow with interest for my Google Home devices.  I am pretty sure that, what you want, does not work on Google Home. I have two GH devices and to switch a light On or Off, I must specify the name of the specific light. It would be interesting to say, while near the Kitchen GH, turn on the lights and it only applies to the kitchen, but right now that would not work. I do not think that the GH device knows that I speak to (in fact) Google Assistant from the kitchen and not from the bedroom. This is, I believe, because Google Home works with Google Assistant and Google Assistant works with your specific Google account.

Now, I am not even sure that I would want the GH to react only on the lights at the location of the GH device. My kitchen is next to my dining room and I like to control both from the kitchen GH.

[stusviews]

Rob, I misunderstood your post (#56). The advice I gave was to be able to control all three lights at the same time. To date, the only way I found to use the same term in several rooms (e.g., light, fan, sconces, etc.) is to have multiple Amazon shopping accounts and corresponding portal sub-accounts. My understanding of v3 is that you will still need more than one portal account, but you won't need multiple Amazon accounts.

 

BTW, if you do have/add accounts, then any Echo device within earshot of a different account needs a different wake word

[Goose66]

The update to Alexa is supposed to let you do it without different accounts:

 

https://youtu.be/UH8I8vKMJ5E

 

This should not require v3 of the ISY Smart Home Skill either. It should just work, according to the video.

Edited November 10, 2017 by kingwr

[Goose66]

Ok, maybe it does have something to do with the v3 API. While nothing in the incoming command payload deals with group or room, there are device classifications returned in the discovery payload that may facilitate what Alexa understands to be a “light” in the group.

Edited November 10, 2017 by kingwr

[stusviews]

Anyone have success using the same command (e.g., Alexa, turn on the light) in different rooms without needing a separate account for each room?

[Goose66]

Is it possible this only works with Echo Plus and 2nd gen Dots? Man, that would suck!

[nathagt]

Ok, maybe it does have something to do with the v3 API. While nothing in the incoming command payload deals with group or room, there are device classifications returned in the discovery payload that may facilitate what Alexa understands to be a “light” in the group.

 

One of the admins said previously that it requires v3 to work. If you look at your smart home devices in the Alexa app, they are all listed as type "Other." I think with v3 they will be correctly classified. Right now, Alexa is just looking for a device called "Lights". This would also allow for things like "Alexa lock all the doors" according to the Help page in the Alexa app. I'm guessing you could add a lock to a group and just say "Alexa lock the door" just like you would do with lights. 

 

 

Edit: Second post on page 3 is where Michael addresses this

https://forum.universal-devices.com/topic/22604-what-is-live-update-and-smart-home-skill-v3/page-3 

Edited November 10, 2017 by nathagt

[Goose66]

Looks like the devices need to be identified with the displayCategory attribute of LIGHT or SWITCH during discovery to be considered lighting devices by Alexa.

[Teken]

The update to Alexa is supposed to let you do it without different accounts:

 

https://youtu.be/UH8I8vKMJ5E

 

This should not require v3 of the ISY Smart Home Skill either. It should just work, according to the video.

 

Thanks for sharing, but the video was disabled would you so happen to have a direct link?

[Goose66]

Thanks for sharing, but the video was disabled would you so happen to have a direct link?

 

You can just click the "Watch this video on YouTube" link in the error message. Here is the URL:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UH8I8vKMJ5E

Question: Are we going to have to go into the Alexa app and enable a new, specific v3 ISY Skill when it is available or is the existing "ISY Optimized for Smart Home V2" just going to start using the v3 API?

Edited November 10, 2017 by kingwr

[Teken]

You can just click the "Watch this video on YouTube" link in the error message. Here is the URL:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UH8I8vKMJ5E

Question: Are we going to have to go into the Alexa app and enable a new, specific v3 ISY Skill when it is available or is the existing "ISY Optimized for Smart Home V2" just going to start using the v3 API?

 

Great video thanks for sharing really looking forward to this being deployed in v3.