when an event happen

[naseemr]

Hi All, I wanted to know if an event happen, for example a door wan unlocked, can Alexa announce it? like "The Door is unlocked"

[DParker]

Hi All, I wanted to know if an event happen, for example a door wan unlocked, can Alexa announce it? like "The Door is unlocked"

For the time being, Alexa can only give voice responses to voice commands/questions.  She cannot be prompted to speak by any other outside influence, like your home automation system.  However, I and some other people are working on ways around that limitation.

Which supported home automation system are you using to control your locks (and/or other things)?

[ScottinPollock]

I and some other people are working on ways around that limitation.

How?

And I'll tell you what I am currently doing. I have a Mac Mini as a home server, running an app called HAM Bridge. SmartThings events send an HTTP GET with various params to HAM Bridge, which then hands them off to an AppleScript for speaking on the Echo via bluetooth.

[DParker]

I and some other people are working on ways around that limitation.

How?

And I'll tell you what I am currently doing. I have a Mac Mini as a home server, running an app called HAM Bridge. SmartThings events send an HTTP GET with various params to HAM Bridge, which then hands them off to an AppleScript for speaking on the Echo via bluetooth.

The holy grail is to, if possible, develop an app on a RPi (or maybe even an Arduino) that acts as a bridge between the audio-over-WiFi that ST supports (driving stuff like Sonos, et al) and the Echo's remote control interface (which is Bluetooth) and the "Simon says..." function to send speech to it, which the Echo then converts to text and then speaks in its own voice.

But in the meantime I already have something almost as good.  I'm using a combination of Rule Machine and the Lannouncer device on ST to send notifications to the Lannouncer app on my Android phone (until I can setup a more dedicated Android device for that, like a cheap old tablet or something), which then converts it to audio and plays it.  Since my phone is paired with my Echos the audio is then sent to the Echo via the regular Bluetooth interface.

Right now I only have a couple of a proof-of-concept rules set up that tell us "Good night" when the bedroom lights are turned off for the evening, and tells me, "Come on old man, it's time to get up" right before my alarm goes off in the morning.  I have additional time of day conditions on the "Good Night" rule so that it only fires between 10pm-1am, and I use similar conditional rules on my phone's Tasker app to only connect to the Echos' BT at that time, and disconnect in the morning after I get my wake up nudge.

It's a little kludgy, but it works.

[ScottinPollock]

It's a little kludgy, but it works.

OK, so your kludge resembles mine. So in your Grail scenario, the Echo can connect via both the remote AND an audio connection simultaneously?

[DParker]

OK, so your kludge resembles mine. So in your Grail scenario, the Echo can connect via both the remote AND an audio connection simultaneously?

I'll find out if/when I try to implement it.  But for now I'm assuming so.  But that's easy enough to test.  I'll just stream some audio to the Echo from my phone and then try using the remote.  I'll give it a shot tonight if I remember when I get home.

[fstbusa]

Depending if you are using a home automation system, you can get the echo to announce anything you want using LaNnouncer and smarthings or similar.

https://community.smartthings.com/t/amazon-echo-does-voice-notifications/34008/19

[DParker]

I'll find out if/when I try to implement it.  But for now I'm assuming so.  But that's easy enough to test.  I'll just stream some audio to the Echo from my phone and then try using the remote.  I'll give it a shot tonight if I remember when I get home.

Well, I didn't get out of the office until late last night, and was so tired when I got home that I forgot to try this out, so...shooting for tonight instead.

[ScottinPollock]

shooting for tonight instead.

So I have been playing around with this and it works reasonably well with a good TTS voice. The example I used is http://soletc.com/stuff/testSpeech.mp3

I have not used SmartThings TTS as I don't have Sonos. Is it comparable (or even close) in quality?

[DParker]

So I have been playing around with this and it works reasonably well with a good TTS voice. The example I used is http://soletc.com/stuff/testSpeech.mp3

I have not used SmartThings TTS as I don't have Sonos.

Neither do I, nor do you need one.  Sonos is just one specific device type that ST TTS can target.  It works the same with others, like Bose SoundTouch, Samsung's Multiroom Speakers and the LanNouncer custom device.  There are other custom devices as well, I just don't know them all.

Is it comparable (or even close) in quality?

The one I get is even better.  It's a more natural-sounding female voice that's not that far off from the Echo's, so it's not a striking difference when the upstairs one issues its native "OK" response to a command to turn off the bedroom lights, immediately followed by the "Good night" sent by ST via my aforementioned Rube Goldberg setup.