Device status

[Jeffrok]

Hello, new user here..

I have a quick question.. through Google assistant I can ask, "ok Google, is my living room light on?" And Google will respond with the appopriate status of the light..

I ask Alexis "Is living room light on?" And I get "living room light doesn't support that."

Has anyone gotten any word from Amazon why Google supports getting a status of a light device or thermostat but Alexa doesn't? Seems like if one can do it, the other should know how to.

[asianrocker]

This is what I tried on mine

Me - is my light on?
Alexa - which device?
Me - bedroom
Alexa  - ok (then bam my lights are on)
me- is my bedroom light on
Alexa - does not support it
Me - bish you just turned it on WTF
Alexa - …………………...

[bitstopjoe]

This is what I tried on mine

Me - is my light on?
Alexa - which device?
Me - bedroom
Alexa  - ok (then bam my lights are on)
me- is my bedroom light on
Alexa - does not support it
Me - bish you just turned it on WTF
Alexa - …………………...

 Almost sounds like the start of an Abbott and Costello routine!! 

[scottrods]

Alexa Has a keen sense of attitude I think... she openly tries to push your buttons and in your case... looks like she succeeded... now she has every reason in the world to talk smack back at you... Never Call her names... she doesn't like it... Maybe if you apologized for your pissy attitude, she'll get back in line ... 

[renegade600]

I called alexa stupid yesterday and next thing I knew, I was having problems with most of my alexa devices. 

what happened was, I told alexa to turn on television, she did, then I asked what the temperature was in here, and the response was television does not support that.   I asked several times and kept getting the same response.  got tired and asked if alexa was stupid and the response was to file a feedback report.    Looked in history and alexa heard me correctly. 

I did file a feedback report giving a detail explanation of the problem.  the response was them asking for a detail explanation of the problem.  basically I quit.  got the survey and said terrible on everything.  right after that nothing was working properly and had to do a power cycle on all of my wemo switches and had to do a discover.    maybe it was just coincidence but...

sorry got a bit sidetrack. 

for the fun of it, I just asked if kitchen light was on.  It turned it on.  just asked again, like you, alexa does not support that.    And like you, google told me it was off.  surprised alexa does not support this feature.   sure would come in hand when you have smart home lights and devices in other locations. 

[asianrocker]

LOL the last 2 banters didn't happen. I was just Abbott and Costello-ing it. 

But the other ones actually happened. Which proves my point in my other posts in the forum that using complete sentences is not necessary coz these AIs are only looking for that trigger word based on their program.

I asked it if my light is on since I didn't specify she asked what devices do I want. Then proceeded to turn it  on. Coz the trigger word it recognized are light and on.  So it turned my light on when I didn't ask her to.

I therefore conclude that Google has better programmers. LOL coz they program it to know if any device is currently on. Alexa is clueless in that part. It was only programmed to turn devices on/off.

[scottrods]

No doubt about it, there are some shortcomings in every AI That I've played with has at least a couple of things that are missing...

So far, the IOT devices having some sort of Status indication the AI can use, where non-IOT devices do not. This applies heavily to things controlled by secondary bridges and hubs, as many of them will control things that have no capability to report status (Tv and Audio equipment through the Harmony hub, etc...)

I don't know how difficult it is to summon status on the IOT prepared devices, but I have noticed that they All (all of mine at least) are at the very least capable of that Status reporting, but The Amazon Products are not utilizing it.

I suspect the reason is there are few requests/demands for it. This also is probably due to the fact that a huge portion of the people who use these AI products... can figure it out without much need for status reports. The short sighted part comes from Alexa when checking on things while you're not home. Siri will tell me the status in picture format AND by voice command on the Home Kit stuff and Apple devices (I have one of nearly everything except the Home Pod for now)... There should definitely be a status check ability from Alexa enabled products as well.

[asianrocker]

The respective apps can tell you the current status obviously but you need to use your hands.

I just tried device status as trigger word and Alexa really was not programmed to know it. At least on my hue lights.

When I ask - what is the current status of my living room light.

Alexa replied it is set to AC.

LOL. It reports the status of my nest thermostat. Ugh.

So I think when it says doesn't support that. It's referring to hue.

Nest has built in status info/program maybe so Alexa somehow can access it and reply appropriately somehow.

[scottrods]

Having iPhone and other apple products... I can clearly see the Hue lights and sensors and stuff have status information per unit. It's clear if you use the Siri functions or if you open and work with the Home kit app... The Hue app is not the only one that can see the hue lights and pieces. It's just Alexa that hasn't;t figured out how to access and report it. These are generally on/off status reports. I know that Alexa just doesn't have a clear method to report the information from the sensors unless there is a term we are not aware of that should be used to summon the info.

I can ask Siri pretty much any of the info and get simple quick answers to all on Hue products. So the info is definitely there.

There is a big difference between the simple data involved in on/off status, and temperature and activity status' provided by the Thermostats though... so I think the makers of those have more of a push built in to provide more info when accessed... I'm not sure why this is, but I feel like there's a solid difference in the broadcast data and what Alexa looks for in each "class" of product...

Does anyone have any Status ability using Alexa and other lighting products? Chime in... please.

[asianrocker]

Oh for sure you can 'see' the status in other apps controlling hue using your hands in your phone. The original problem here is you can't 'hear' it  using your voice in any voice assistant, coz hue does not have a way for an AI to access the current device status.

But the OP said google knows the  current device status of his light. So he needs to come back here and tell what smart light is he using. If it's hue, then Amazon programmers suck and google programmers rock. If his light is not hue then I was right that  hue does not have a way for an AI to access the current device status.

[Jeffrok]

I use TP Link bulbs and light switches. Both can return the on/off status to Google, but not to Alexa.

[asianrocker]

Thanks OP for getting back here. So it would seem echo in general don't have access to any smart lights current status.

Which in conclusion Google has a better AI System program.

[renegade600]

Thanks OP for getting back here. So it would seem echo in general don't have access to any smart lights current status.

Which in conclusion Google has a better AI System program.

actually for my use google does not have the best ai system program.  in fact it is worthless.  I have two and only use them to trouble shoot alexa.    that said, google might be best for your opinion is not everyones opinion. 

[asianrocker]

Can you make an example how Alexa is better for your uses? I somehow doubt Google can't do anything Alexa can.

[renegade600]

Can you make an example how Alexa is better for your uses? I somehow doubt Google can't do anything Alexa can.

if you don't know the differences between the two, then how can you say google home is better.  GET REAL and get educated.