Control unsupported device with HE and Google Assistant

Want to control a device with Hubitat, but IFTTT is either too slow or doesn't support it? Thanks to @ogiewon, there is now a way to do that. What is particularly nice about this solution is you don't actually need a Google Home device if you're only interested in the control aspect. This all happens in the cloud via Google Assistant.

[Caveat] This does not allow you to know the state of the device from Hubitat. Just like IFTTT, you will know the state of a virtual switch in HE, but commands will simply be sent to the device via Google Assistant.

To do this, you need a node.js server, google assistant-relay, and the driver that @ogiewon ported to Hubitat and added these handy additions to allow control via google assistant without speaking.

Once you have google assistant relay running, you can control any device that Google Assistant currently supports by simply creating a virtual switch and a RM rule. This will result in turning ON the virtual switch, to send a silent command to google assistant, and the turning OFF of the virtual switch to send a silent OFF command to google assistant. To do this you simply add [CC] to the front of a command you tell Assistant Relay to speak in the RM rule.

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Again, you're not going to have synchronized control from HE, so if a device is manually controlled outside of Hubitat, it will be out of sync with the virtual switch. You also won't be able to use it for output devices such as motion sensors and door sensors.

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I was curious about this integration before...but now that you mentioned the above...I may actually start reading the thread.

Does google home work with Ring devices?

And does it support Google Home to He communication?..ie some things happens on the google side of things and it will execute something in HE.

They don’t, and with the new owner, I wouldn’t imagine that coming too quickly, if at all.

Good point... I forgot about the change of ownership. ...SIGH.
I guess it's time for the HA walled gardens to start growing taller.

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This is one-way, HE -> Google Assistant -> Device

@stephack Google Assistant does work with the Harmony Hub, but I’m not sure this is going to be useful in the case of a Ring Doorbell. I don’t have Ring, but isn’t the Harmony integration just pause and display on TV? Or can you send commands from the remote to display the camera on your TV? If that were the case, you could probably do it by starting an activity.

What I was really hoping for was a way to get Ring motion and ring alerts to set off automations in HE. But that's a no go :disappointed:

Unfortunately IFTTT is the only way, other than an elaborate setup through Stringify to something like Caseta, but that needs physical devices in Caseta. No Pico device control like you can do from the Caseta app.

I know you know this...but just to be sure...I use Ring attached to ST still, and pass the motion events to HE via the Hubitat standard integration app. Works very well. Nice and quick.

My ST hub is packed up and put away. The only reason I haven't sold it yet is because I need it for my Harmrony Api key.

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I just realized this is a really cool use. Those Tuya Smart Plugs can now be used!

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