Amazon Echo to HA Controllers

[deandob]

Are people using the Kinect for VR using the v1 or current model?
 
I have a v1 and have been using it for gesture recognition in my home theatre to open and close curtains using my arms. Was a fun project using the skeleton API and used the same time domain warping approach that I used for speech pattern matching on a PIC microchip.
 
I haven't used Kinect for speech recognition but as it has a mic array & audio processing electronics I expect it to work well - however the form factor for Kinect isn't great for plonking in your living room (and needing an extended USB cable), something like the Echo would be a better solution or perhaps something purpose built to look better in living spaces.

 

[wkearney99]

I haven't been here for weeks. I know you don't like me, but you made the first off topic comment here... 

 
Yet, he's essentially correct.  While I'm sure you believe you've got a great product there, please carry the conversations in threads intended for it.  This isn't one of them.  
 
There are lots of vendors on here and somehow they all manage to grasp this.  It's about time you learned too.

 

[pete_c]

Are people using the Kinect for VR using the v1 or current model?

 
Here starting slow and wanting to utilize the Kinect V1 for VR and a small footprint (maybe) configuration in one room. 
 
The Intel Atom Baytrail computer will just be running SAPI / VR / Kinect stuff and is connected to a thin wide touch screen made for wall mounting.  No gestures baby steps though.  It will be an autonomous automation device to the mothership.  I started to move automation devices off the main automation mothership a few years back. Decentralizing it a bit to a sort of hub and spoke arrangement in the house even though the mothership was watching over the tiny devices.
 
First one was putting the irrigation software (using ET and a bit more than a scheduler) on a tiny device called the Seagate Dockstar. (Arm mini Pogo Plug).  Here though and for years the OS / backup is running off SSD drives (tiny ones).  I got the idea for this right here on Cocoontech.  Too I ventured over to playing with the big and little arm Chumby's (got that too from here). Easy to redo the flash based OS to pure Linux at the time.   I still have one little Chumby online and it does talk TTS when it boots up and tells me things.
 
The Amazon Echo device just sits in the main floor family room next to and sort of behind furniture.  It is easy to get to but not displayed. 
 
The main floor is open such that it is easy to hear the Amazon Echo.
 
Did catch a bit of news yesterday relating to privacy issues;  Amazon Echo (well and other stuff) in the media.  It was on the source website and a letter pages long.  I was going to post it here.  That said many folks have no issues posting about their bowel movements on social media (along with other stuff) and tend to get caught up in whatever media hype they read on their little computer phones.  Geez a tweet can cause mass hysteria these days.

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

Yet, he's essentially correct.  While I'm sure you believe you've got a great product there, please carry the conversations in threads intended for it.  This isn't one of them.  
 
There are lots of vendors on here and somehow they all manage to grasp this.  It's about time you learned too.

This has been taken care of.  Thanks for yours and others concerns.  We do want to ensure our members have a great and pleasant experience on our forums.
 
We do tollerate vendors participating in our forums and for the most part it is benneficial to our membership.  When it is not, we take care of it.
 
Thanks again and regards,
 
BSR
CocoonTech Moderator

 

[pete_c]

Thank-you BSR!

 

[picta]

Pete
 
Have you been able to integrate Echo to Homeseer WITHOUT connecting it to the cloud? How are you doing it?
 
Thanks

 

[wkearney99]

Have you been able to integrate Echo to Homeseer WITHOUT connecting it to the cloud? How are you doing it?

 
At this point in time you're not going to be able to use the Echo without it making a connection to Amazon's web services.  It's the Echo AWS servers that are doing all the 'heavy lifting' for voice recognition.  The Echo itself does not do the voice recog.  It's essentially just a wifi-connected microphone and amplified speaker.  It has only enough built-in smarts to handle listening for the trigger word and interact with the AWS servers.

 

[pete_c]

Have you been able to integrate Echo to Homeseer WITHOUT connecting it to the cloud? How are you doing it?

Nope. The Amazon Echo needs to be connected to Amazon for it to function.

Been playing with those cloud connected trinkets off main house stuff using my PFSense firewall with multiple network ports inside (multilan) and outside (multiwan). My testing using Java was running it on the RPi2 which is running Homeseer 3 lite. It took the CPU....to 108%

The Echo today has it's own AP and network in or out. PFSense lets me get very granular with the connection.

...parrot issue....have to stop...

 

[picta]

Oh, I thought you've managed to connect the Echo's microphone arrays to Homeseer as a voice input. HS had voice control built-in for a while, but the lack of good distributed mics did not allow use of its full potential. It looks like Echo has a high quality connected mic, too bad it cannot be used stand-alone. It would be nice to figure it out somehow (hint, hint ;-)

 

[jkmonroe]

so i've been at this for a day now, and still can't get my Echo to talk with my Hue bridge.  I can get it talking to the emulator, but it immediately goes offline after finding the devices and won't work.
 
im going to head to BestBuy and take a look at getting a new wifi router - initial research is that Meraki has a rough time with multicast, but it makes no sense since AirPlay works.

 

[jkmonroe]

Got Echo talking to the Hue bridge.  It only works for 3 or 4 commands, then the bridge goes 'offline' in the Echo portal.
 
Setup has been tested with my Meraki setup, a 5th gen Airport Extreme, and a cheap Linksys EA4500.  Same results, so I'm stumped ... everyone else having better luck?
 
I don't know what to try next ...

 

[pete_c]

Setup has been tested with my Meraki setup, a 5th gen Airport Extreme, and a cheap Linksys EA4500.  Same results, so I'm stumped ... everyone else having better luck?

 

I can get it talking to the emulator, but it immediately goes offline after finding the devices and won't work.

 
Sounds like a wireless issue. 
 
Last night built a new AP on one tabletop touchscreen for just the Echo.  It is running Ubuntu 14.04.  I want to see the status such that the tabletop will go to the Amazon Echo website. The wired Gb network interface on the tabletop just goes to one LAN interface on the PFSense firewall and out to the Internet.  I can see the chit chat on the Ubuntu touchscreen and the PFSense firewall. 
 
Not sure on the Hue but the Echo has to see the SSID.  (IE: you cannot hide it the SSID).   The testing AP's have only maybe 20 feet away in the basement rack with the Echo on the main floor.  How is your AP signals look where the Echo/Hue is located?  Have you checked the signals? 
 
Typically the AP wireless status will show the signal strength.  Look for the MAC address of the Echo.
 
I have tested the Amazon Echo wirelessly connected to 3 different wireless AP's by itself on it's own AP (not shared) all configured via the Amazon GUI.

 

[pete_c]

Oh, I thought you've managed to connect the Echo's microphone arrays to Homeseer as a voice input. HS had voice control built-in for a while, but the lack of good distributed mics did not allow use of its full potential. It looks like Echo has a high quality connected mic, too bad it cannot be used stand-alone. It would be nice to figure it out somehow (hint, hint ;-)

 
No
 
For Homeseer (years now) have 12 + 8 audio zones directly connected to the speaker dot exe program running on the HS box.  For SAPI / VR / TTS use my table top embedded wintel touchscreens running MS SAPI / VR.  (~20 or so). IE: they run speaker dot exe with MS SAPI and Homeseer Touch.  I shut off the VR but it's still there.   House is a bit too chatty kathy with the zoned audio and the touchscreen audio going.  Did purchase a nice remote microphone for the VR stuff a while back.  Trained it and tried it for maybe a month or two back in the early 2000's.  That said been helping a Homeseer peer who has been using VR/TTS/Microphone for many years.  Recently he switched over the Kinect and likes it way better. 
 
Testing with an Amazon Echo talking to Homeseer via the emulating bridge worked just great.  No need to take apart the Echo.  Just put it wherever and turn down the audio on it a bit. 
 
BTW all of that little computer playing that I mentioned before came from one user here on the forum  (Damage) and doing stuff with xPL and xAP way long time ago. 

 

[jkmonroe]

connection is solid.  
 
i am trying to get my Echo to link direct to my Hue bridge instead of trying to run the emulator (for the moment).  multiple sources online are pointing to an 18 device limit, which i am well over.  
 
going to run it through the emulator and see if i have any better luck.

 

[wuench]

I have already tested up to 24 devices using the CQC driver I am writing.  There was a limit of around 20 for the emulator but I think that limit was falsely imposed by the emulator's author because he was using HTTP 1.1 w/o chunking, so he was limited to one HTTP response of 1500 bytes.  He broke through that limit in a later release, people were reporting 20+ devices.
 
I am going to have to get the auto device load portion of my emulator driver working to add more, I am too lazy to keep editing my XML file..  But we'll see if there is a limit...
 
Edit: Got it up to 50 devices so far.  If you mean it marking the Hue devices offline, I have seen that, but haven't discovered a pattern.  As far as I can tell, it marks stuff offline that was from a previous discovery.  I did see it once do a successful discovery on my end, but it was on the tail end of the 20 seconds and everything got marked offline after that.   And it seems I can still send on/off commands even if they are marked offline, I still get the HTTP requests from the Echo.