Alexa reply

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1

I see it can be done with HA

Can it be done using HE?
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Any way this can be accomplished using hubitat?

is there a way to create a routine to have Alexa ask for a response to an announcement, and if the answer is not yes, ask again in a predetermined amount of time?

Exp: Alexa announcement " did you lock the car?"
My answer " no" --- Alexa " I will remind you again in one hour"

And

Alexa announcement " did you lock the car?"
My answer " yes"
Alexa "Great" End ..... No Alexa followup.

2

Short answer: no, not that I can think of. :slight_smile:

Longer answer: no, but you can maybe get an announcement, then manually create a reminder for yourself if needed? (E.g., Alexa announces "Did you lock the car?" and if no, then you can say, "Alexa, remind me in one hour to lock the car.")

Even longer answer: if you don't already have something set up for this, the biggest challenge is that Hubitat (or any third-party service) cannot natively/officially do TTS to an Alexa device, so you'd need to get something unofficial set up to do that. Echo Speaks is a popular option, though there are others:

Once you get that working, you can automate the generation of announcements on Alexa via any method of your choosing. But I'm not aware of any way to respond to input (e.g., "yes" or "no" directly), at least not with un-natural/awkward workarounds ("Alexa, turn on Virtual XYZ switch"), and I'd probably find it easier just to make a reminder on Alexa myself.

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3

Thanks for your input. I already have a scheduled time announcement. Just looking to take it further

4

I should note that I believe the answering would be possible with a custom Alexa Skill (still think you're on your own for announcements). But I'm not aware of anyone who has written anything, and it's definitely more than I'd want to take on just for this. :slight_smile:

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5

You would probably be better off to get (and program) a spare fob, and use it to just automatically lock at a given time, or after a period of time from arrival.

Most of these fobs are simply simple contacts under the cover. You can carefully solder to the pads on most of these. Use one of those cheap Zigbee relays to "press" the lock button, it just will short the two halves to cause the lock action.

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6

@junk7001

This is the way.

And here's one of those cheap zigbee dry-contact relays:

https://www.amazon.com/MHCOZY-Adjustable-Selflock-Momentary-SmartThings/dp/B08X218VMR/

It also comes in 2-channel and 4-channel variants, all of which work with Hubitat.

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7

Sorry for the long post but I have done something similar using Alexa Routines for a reminder to take out the garbage cans. This uses a few Alexa Routine spots and is a little bit of a Rube Goldberg type of setup but it works for me and I have been using it for about 18 months now.

Each Tuesday evening (can be scheduled directly in Alexa or triggered by a scheduled virtual contact with auto-off in RM) an Alexa routine is triggered that announces:

“Just a friendly reminder to take out the trash. If you have not, say ‘Alexa, I want to take out the trash and I will turn on the patio and driveway lights for you, or you can say ‘Alexa, remind me later to take out the trash’.”

Two other Alexa routines must be entered into the Alexa app which are triggered by your response. One Alexa routine is triggered by the command “Alexa, I want to take out the trash” and the Alexa routine then responds “OK, I will turn on the lights for you” and triggers my Patio and Driveway Lights to go on and stay on as long as motion is active (motion is detected by my security cameras).

Another Alexa routine is triggered by the command “Alexa, remind me to take out the trash”. This sets a regular Alexa reminder to remind you to ‘take out the trash’ (if done entirely in the Alexa app). Or, you can also program this in HE with another virtual contact with auto-off switch. In HE, the Alexa routine triggers this additional virtual contact auto-off switch to trigger a RM rule to retrigger the original RM rule (you must add the virtual contact as an additional OR trigger in the original RM rule).

I’m sure the above can easily be modified to accommodate your use case.

In order to do this, you need to have the Amazon Echo Skill on your hub. Although you can do this without the Echo Speaks app (by using Alexa Routines triggered by the virtual contact auto-off switches), the Echo Speaks app makes it so the announcements can be done via TTS in RM, or in Echo Speaks itself.

AFAIK, the verbal commands must still be done on your Echos via Alexa Routines in the Alexa app. I am just starting to convert many of my Echo announcements to Echo Speaks in order to do more of this stuff in RM and Echo Speaks as I am constantly reaching the 200 Routine limit in Alexa. However, although Echo Speaks has been rock solid so far for me, because it does rely on Heroku server, it still depends on the Cloud to operate and arguably adds one more layer of complexity to the mix (one more thing that could potentially go “bad” which can complicate trouble shooting). However, as I use my Echos to make several announcements like this, I keep bumping into the 200 routine limit and handing some of these announcements off to Hubitat keeps me below the limit.

Hope this helps.

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@junk7001, to simply my previous response to your OP, just keep in mind that Alexa Routines can be triggered by either: 1) a verbal command spoken to one of your Alexa devices, or 2) a Hubitat generated contact attribute (on/off etc). I use virtual contacts with auto-off switch so that the virtual contact acts like a momentary on/off switch. That way, it is like pushing a momentary button when it is activated so you don’t have to worry about it staying in the ON position. Another reason to use virtual contacts with auto-off switch is that Alexa will only allow you to control switches, and will only allow you to import contacts as triggers.
Again, I hope you find this useful.

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9

Check out this post, It is possible.

In that post I say I am doing it in webcore but I have since switched it to RM.

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10

Yes @terminal3, this is how I have been achieving this (but in my case using RM, I do not have experience with Webcore) for at least the last 18 months per my description in my previous post. For the last 18 months or so, it has worked very well and although you have to respond with “Alexa” as the wake word, by having Alexa prompt what the response phrasing should be, the interaction with Alexa becomes much more “conversational” and has met the WAF guidelines (which is the real test, lol).