Group/Device identified correctly but not actioned

[dcullen]

Can anyone provide any insight into how Amazon echo prioritises its selection once the voice to text has been successful?
Why does echo correctly identify a group/device by name but choose an action based on internal services rather than user defined entries.
e.g. turn on Comedy will not result in actioning a device called Comedy, Sky Comedy, Watch Sky Comedy (anything with Comedy in) but instead start TunedIn Comedy station.

How do I avoid these clashes other than totally avoiding the word related to the action I want ?

[dcullen]

I am amazed that no-one has anything to say about my issue here, obviously most users are satisfied with turning a few lights on or stopping/starting a TV/smart home device through the skills (will see what Harmony skill does when it comes to the UK with regards to more complex operations like selecting channels where the word is effectively reserved e.g. Comedy). In my opinion overiding our devices/groups makes it look like echo is not responding as expected and that will be how the man on the street sees it regardless whether it understood the voice correctly. This can only be bad for the perception of the performance of the echo.

[DParker]

I am amazed that no-one has anything to say about my issue here, obviously most users are satisfied with turning a few lights on or stopping/starting a TV/smart home device through the skills...

Or perhaps others just aren't experiencing what you described.

[dirkpitt007]

I am amazed that no-one has anything to say about my issue here, obviously most users are satisfied with turning a few lights on or stopping/starting a TV/smart home device through the skills...

Or perhaps others just aren't experiencing what you described.

I have the same problem.  Echo perfectly translates my voice commands (based on reviewing the history of what Alexa heard) yet cannot match my command to an action.  If I look under SmartHome in the app, there is a device that is exactly what Echo translated from my voice.  Very frustrating that it cannot seem to locate the correct command.

[DParker]

I have the same problem.  Echo perfectly translates my voice commands (based on reviewing the history of what Alexa heard) yet cannot match my command to an action.  If I look under SmartHome in the app, there is a device that is exactly what Echo translated from my voice.  Very frustrating that it cannot seem to locate the correct command.

Just because you see it in your SmartThings app doesn't that Alexa should know about it.  Have you made the ST device(s) in question available via the Alexa smart app in SnartThings and then had Alexa do device discovery so that they appear in the "Smart Home" section of your Alexa app?

[dcullen]

I have followed up on this problem and have been told by Amazon support they understand the problem and are working on a solution. For those that do not understand the issue, its not a smartthings, its a fundamental problem with smartdevices and echo not prioritising the group/group names defined by users over internal searches/services. The voice recognition works and identifies a group/group name but does not activate the group/group name command because it has some internal override for a service.
e.g. to replicate, in alexa app, go to smarthome, define a group called 'comedy', try the phrase 'turn on comedy' and you will get back
'sorry, I'm not sure which app or game to open' or at least I do
this could be a problem for any smart devices, obviously Harmony skill will also be on the horizon, but I still think that the echo is not functioning in the correct way and hopefully support agree and will provide a solution as they have mentioned

There is an odd workaround, add 'lights' to the end of your command, this identifies it as a smart device and runs the group/group name correctly.