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Homey & Amazon (dot) integration in the works?

technimantechniman Member
edited January 2017 in Developers
Hi @Stefan

You mentioned that the team was looking into linking an Amazon Dot to Homey, 
Can you elaborate on that, how do you (athom) envision that and how do you think this will work?  

Will this also open up the possibility of sending texts to Homey and have it interpret them as if they were spoken? 
(this to minimize the number of flows needed )

For the people interested, the video is here :  


edit:
wanted to add the timecode (had to view the thing again)
it's at ~34:44    

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Comments

  • I am curious as well, despite the fact that Amazon doesn't support dutch yet...

    The idea of controlling your home by voice is nice, but i gues hard to do it right for a start-up. I'd rather see integrations with amazon dot, apple siri or even google assistant. Siri as an example really improved the last years to an assistant that gets speech right every time.

    My idea: Stop working on your own speech processor, and try to implement 3rd party speech things. An amazon dot can be placed all around the house. I only see benefits (once they support dutch as well).
  • swttt said:
    My idea: Stop working on your own speech processor, and try to implement 3rd party speech things. An amazon dot can be placed all around the house. I only see benefits (once they support dutch as well).

    Yes that would be my preference as well,  I do understand losing the "OK Homey"  would be a negative point for athome but speech recognition would certainly benefit (when amazon supports dutch) 
    and in turn the Homey Owners & community benefits..
     
    The time this could free from the developers would be substantial and enough to warrant this.. imagine Homey being homekit certified :-)
       
    In tandem I'd like to see the text handling enabled, this way we can create out own solutions while they work on echo/home support.

    Side note, I noticed it's possible to install Alexa on a RPI2/3
    Apparently Alexa is based on Node.js.. the same stuff as Homey, someone (more skilled than me) might be able to creat an Alexa App replacing the speech recognition of Homey..

    I'm not sure about this last part, since the Homey trigger is likely hardcoded .. but it's just a thought 
      



  • Allmost no way to let devs do this themselves...the only way would be to create a skill for alexa that sends the speech translated as text to homey and homey responds back to it's speaker and as text to alexa that in return makes alexa speek.

    I truly hoop Alexa will support dutch someday...
  • swttt said:
    I truly hoop Alexa will support dutch someday...
    It will, the only question is when.. 

    I'm still planning to hack my own through google now, I know that works and homey's speech recognition is not usable (  and I mean NOT usable  no matter what I say it no longer reacts/hears me, already rebooted several times )  
  • The thing with homey clearly is related to the hardware and not really a software thing. The better voice app from Jeroen might get you on the right track with some words that get translated badly everytime.

    They said that they still can tweak the microphone, but for now it only works on max 3 meters away here. Still do-able, but don't use it that much.

    Their iOS app works flawless by the way, so that indicates it really seems a hardware issue.
    Still, amazon, google, apple and even microsoft has tons of more data to analyse and improve their speech. That with a device like the Echo Dot (dedicated to hear you and just do http calls) should give a better speech to text experience then we are having now....

  • +1 this idea. I'm both blown away by the Echo and Homey, two devices I own. Unfortunately, I can't get ifttt to work properly so native support between both devices would be a huge win although I'm conscious about the fact that an Echo is officially not should in NL yet. Coincidentally I just emailed Annemarie to learn about if this integration is on the horizon.

    On a different note, I also managed to build a connection between Google Home and Homey using the API.AI service. Last week, I finally managed to get this to work and I will write a guide on the proof of concept shortly. However, I'm not convinced about this solution because there's some user friction while using GHome and Homey together. For instance, I always need to activate my 'Homey bot' so that I can him/her a command. This basically means that I always need at least two voice commands for one action unless they follow each other quickly. Additionally, this solution really seems to be focused on using the Google cloud which also makes it less interesting for private users. For example, I still would need to host a script that speaks to Homey on my specific Homey accouny. Then I would also wanna make sure that Homey users can connect their accounts to my service that connects to the API.AI service. Quite cumbersome and not something I'm looking forward to building in my own spare (and limited) time let alone the skills that I lack to do such thing, haha. I tired connecting GHome through ifttt with Homey but the delay in triggering a flow makes this connection just not that useful in most cases.

    The upside of Google Home / Assistant is the fact that we as users can have a conversation with the bot vs plain commands that Echo offers.

    In short, I would really encourage Athom to look at these options especially because the media writes that global launches are planned for later this year. It seems to be one of the better directions for solving problems that some (or a lot) of Homey users have including yours truley :)
  • Would be nice if athom could chime in on this one.. 
  • I too have been blown away by the Echo. Only got one a couple of days ago when I saw they support LightwaveRF. 
    Combined with Hue and the Harmony skills it can pretty much control must of my devices.
    Strange though, I felt like I was cheating on Homey when I brought Alexa into the house!
    But she is soooooo tantalising!
    And that voice!
    And she always respond to me!
    And she always listens!
    And does what I want!
    (I am married btw!)
  • Not married to Alexa right? That would be weiiirdd....

    To be honest, i looked into alexa before. (when the first echo device could be ordered)
    Never tought they would grow sooo fast. The Dot has an awesome price tho, and even read some articles that Dutch might come soon as well.

    To sum it up, i just applied for an Echo dot :smile: Could take weeks, but can't wait to play with it...
  • RamonBaasRamonBaas Member
    edited January 2017
    Just started playing with my Echo Dot last weekend and indeed it works great. It connects via BT to my Heos. There is even an integration with Vera  ;). Was thinking of creating a skill for Homey, but if Athom makes an integration I'll wait for that (SOON I guess).
  • @RamonBaas Please try to make a skill if you're interested and willing to do so. We have heard nothing about Athom making an Alexa skill, so that SOON might have a very large TM ;)
  • JohanKusterJohanKuster Member
    edited January 2017
    Echo dot works with Samsung SmartThings hub. So, you will have support for Zwave, zigbee, bluetooth, ip controlled devices and last but not least a great voice control.  Combined, they cost half the price of a Homey...
  • Echo dot works with Samsung SmartThings hub. So, you will have support for Zwave, zigbee, bluetooth, ip controlled devices and last but not least a great voice control.  Combined, they cost half the price of a Homey...
    While that might be true, most of us already have a Homey.. buying a Sansung SmartThings Hub, IMHO defeats the purpose, we already have a very capable hub, just the voice part is lacking..  

    (also I do not see this being available in NL, which would mean you'd need import one.. which in turn would mean that it will not be operating at the EU zwave frequencies )
  • techniman said:
    Echo dot works with Samsung SmartThings hub. So, you will have support for Zwave, zigbee, bluetooth, ip controlled devices and last but not least a great voice control.  Combined, they cost half the price of a Homey...
    While that might be true, most of us already have a Homey.. buying a Sansung SmartThings Hub, IMHO defeats the purpose, we already have a very capable hub, just the voice part is lacking..  

    (also I do not see this being available in NL, which would mean you'd need import one.. which in turn would mean that it will not be operating at the EU zwave frequencies )
    Well, it kind of doesn't defeat the purpose if the Smartthings hub works and Homey doesn't. Homey's biggest selling point was voice...which for many people doesn't work.

    I bought my Smartthings hub AFTER I bought Homey, and I don't regret it one bit. Also with that I have connected my Amazon Echo and Logitech Harmony Hub. Sorry, but this works better than my Homey (especially via voice). Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking your opinion and yes I do still have my Homey, although not using as much as my Echo, Smartthings, & Logitech combo because...this combo just works.
  • @mitch
    For you the smartthings hub might be a good alternative...for others it isn't.
    Homey has so many different protocols packed in that little head, not sure what the smart things hub has...but my guess is less.

    In my opinion Homey has way more potential then any other hub i had in the past. (to be clear: i never tried smart things tho) But they surely never should have promoted the speech recognition sooo much like they did in the beginning.

    I am still convinced that dropping the speech input, and integrating with Alexa is the best way to go. At least it is for now...
    To bad we didn't see any other statements made about this integration...maybe @weejewel could write a little something about it in the forum updates? Or @Annemarie could try to find out what their ideas really are? :smile:


  • @swtt, I understand your position. I was just stating my experience. One persons working experience doesn't mean it will work for everyone
  • I don`t speak dutch. What Stefan is saying in that video?
  • Basically it's a salespitch, but there are some interesting things in there, the one we are discussing here was the mention that they are looking into the Amazon dot integration...  Which could be a great solution to some of the voice issues... 
  • Last software update post might give a hint :smile:

  • swttt said:
    Last software update post might give a hint :smile:

    Is this hope? :) or do we seriously think homey is considering moving to alexa/google for voice on their own platform?
  • techniman said:
    Basically it's a salespitch, but there are some interesting things in there, the one we are discussing here was the mention that they are looking into the Amazon dot integration...  Which could be a great solution to some of the voice issues... 
    That would be a good idea. The Echo Dot is sold in Germany for euro 59 and you can also buy a six pack and pay only for 5. Now you can have multi room speech recognition. Perhaps Homey can send one for free (or reduced price) to existing owners of Homey once the product is sold in the Netherlands. Integration looks like a piece of cake. For people who can't wait: https://developer.amazon.com/alexa

  • What video btw?
  • techniman said:
    Basically it's a salespitch, but there are some interesting things in there, the one we are discussing here was the mention that they are looking into the Amazon dot integration...  Which could be a great solution to some of the voice issues... 
    Perhaps Homey can send one for free (or reduced price) to existing owners of Homey once the product is sold in the Netherlands.
    Haha not gonna happen.. athom needs to make money as well :-)
    they *could* facilitate the purchase in NL for the reduced price.. but thats it (at least what i would expect) 
  • What video btw?
    on top (first post)
  • The robbshop part threw me off, cool lets hope
  • jeroenbos22jeroenbos22 Member
    edited February 2017
    Amazon dot integration would be very very cool! Lets hope for the best :smile:
  • Cool! Also Google Home is in the video, so maybe... more then just Alexa
  • @MrDutchfighter From Slack:
    caseda [21:53]  so google home intergration also?
    weejewel [21:54] What makes you think that?
    caseda [21:54]  that nice and shiny google home besides echo
    weejewel [21:54] Haha, no, that's an air freshener
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