HouseBot and Amazon Echo

Simple advice that you may find useful. Feel free to discuss or add your own.
Richard Naninck
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Re: HouseBot and Amazon Echo

Post by Richard Naninck »

Just changed it to "Computer" and I like it already much better. It is the same keyword I use with the standard Windows Voice Recognition in HouseBot controlling my Theater. Now I just need to rename my Skill trigger word. Could rename it to "Alexa" 8)
jacco van der Ven
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Re: HouseBot and Amazon Echo

Post by jacco van der Ven »

Hello,

I just bought a (few) Amazon Echo's in the USA (Good price :D )
I followed the instructions on http://www.housebot.com/alexa but the echo can't find any devices.

my.housebot.com is working in an webbrowser....

Regards,
Jacco
Richard Naninck
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Re: HouseBot and Amazon Echo

Post by Richard Naninck »

but you have the app running with the smart home skill installed and you can see online echo's and you read the help file?
ScottBot
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Re: HouseBot and Amazon Echo

Post by ScottBot »

Make sure you have some devices setup for voice control. In version 3.42, go to the main menu / Settings / Voice Service Setup... Make sure the devices you want available through Alexa are configured with the correct 'Type' and property mappings.
Scott
jacco van der Ven
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Re: HouseBot and Amazon Echo

Post by jacco van der Ven »

Well, in the "Amazon Echo" app I can see an echo device, in Smart Home Skills is the Housebot skin enabled, with the same mail and password as in my.housebot.com.
At my.housebot.com I can see all devices.

Don't know what I miss....
Richard Naninck
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Re: HouseBot and Amazon Echo

Post by Richard Naninck »

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jacco van der Ven
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Re: HouseBot and Amazon Echo

Post by jacco van der Ven »

Yes, that is the same as in my configuration.
Some device don't have a dim property so that is empty.
Richard Naninck
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Re: HouseBot and Amazon Echo

Post by Richard Naninck »

What do you do to Discover your devices? You tell the Echo to discover and/or press the discover button from the smarthome skill?
Richard Naninck
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Re: HouseBot and Amazon Echo

Post by Richard Naninck »

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ScottBot
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Re: HouseBot and Amazon Echo

Post by ScottBot »

I can see the discover request from your alexa and it is returning a list of devices (not sure what data, since that isn't logged).

It could be that you have a device or mode with an odd name (odd character or something) that is causing this. I saw something similar during development of the skill. If you see anything that has a name that could be problematic, try removing it from the voice service setup by changing the 'Device Type' to 'None' and saving.
Scott
jacco van der Ven
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Re: HouseBot and Amazon Echo

Post by jacco van der Ven »

I feel that I'am stupid... :(

But yes, I try both, ask echo and push the discover button.
Richard Naninck
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Re: HouseBot and Amazon Echo

Post by Richard Naninck »

It seems you got everythng right. It's just difficult to guess what it could be hence my basic questions.
Scott is probably right. Always is :D
I would start with just one simple device and if that works, try expanding again. Unless you already tried that as well :wink:
jacco van der Ven
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Re: HouseBot and Amazon Echo

Post by jacco van der Ven »

Ok :D,

I switched all devices in the Voice Service Setup to *None, only one device to switch and now Alexa find it, tomorrow I will switch on the other device's to find what device (name) give's the problem.

Thanks for all your support.
ScottBot
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Re: HouseBot and Amazon Echo

Post by ScottBot »

That's good news! FYI, you don't have to wait an entire day to add back the devices. You can just press the DISCOVER button in the smart home section of the alexa app and it will query your HouseBot instance to get the current list.

When you find the name that is causing the problem, please let me know what it is so I can investigate.
Scott
Richard Naninck
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Re: HouseBot and Amazon Echo

Post by Richard Naninck »

Scott, my guess is that he delayed till today because it was getting late in Holland :D
All of this happened around midnight last night..
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