Making Voice Control Smarter (both Alexa and Google)

[Don Cohen]

11 hours ago, zaphod said:

Thanks Don I will try that.  I agree that using the remote is normally easier but there can be times when you can't use a remote.  Like if you are coooking and your hands are gooey, or you are in the swimming pool.  In those instances it would be great to be able to use voice control to skip to the next track or whatever.

That's one of the things I really like about Control4 - there are multiple ways of interacting with the system, some better suited to particular situations than others.

One other thing I've learned is that to get the 'syntax' of Alexa commands more natural, you can create Harmony Alexa 'Routines.'  These have to be done within the Alexa App (for whatever reason, it's not present in the web interface).  But there you can choose the phrase you want to use, and then create a script of Control4 actions to take place when it hears that.  So for example, I think it should be possible to create a Routine and call it "Pause Netfix' and associate that with a Voice Scene or other programming created within Control4.

Without doing it that way, you'd have to say something like "Alexa, turn on Pause Netflix."

[chopedogg88]

exactly - routines in the Alexa app (not Harmony) is the way to go for more natural wording of commands

[Don Cohen]

2 minutes ago, chopedogg88 said:

exactly - routines in the Alexa app (not Harmony) is the way to go for more natural wording of commands

Thanks for the correction - brain fart on my part (I had a Harmony system before Control4).  I've edited my post to correct this.

[brucecampbell]

Am I correct in assuming that with the voice control options on the C4 website now, I don't need to use the alexa app/website to 'Discover' my devices.

So unless I want to use Alexa groupings or change devices from switches to lights in the Alexa app, I should not need to use the Alexa app at all?

 

[rolldog]

On 1/14/2020 at 8:51 AM, turls said:

Should have known you would ask me that.  I was doing a lot of stuff on C4 that day and it is a blur.  I think when you do this you are going down the road of a conflict in whether you get the C4 room name or the Alexa room name if you try voice commands using the rooms.  So you have Alexa group names that match C4 room names and have no issues?

I think what you're referring to here is having an Echo device in the living room, kitchen, etc and having them named living room, kitchen, etc. After enabling the Control4 skill and discovering devices, it pulls in all the devices from your C4 system, and one of which is living room, kitchen, etc, which in the Alexa app are categorized by Rooms, even though it has a TV icon next to it. Every room setup on your C4 system is imported into Alexa, along with all the devices in that room. I'm not sure what this "Room" symbolizes or if it controls everything within the room, but to avoid conflicts with each Alexa device, I changed the names to living room alexa, kitchen alexa, etc. I was hoping that the different rooms are actually zones for music, but I'm not that lucky. I'd still be interested in finding out what the basic rooms are using for in the Alexa app under devices or if they can all just be disabled to avoid conflicts. 

[rolldog]

On 1/14/2020 at 8:51 AM, turls said:

Should have known you would ask me that.  I was doing a lot of stuff on C4 that day and it is a blur.  I think when you do this you are going down the road of a conflict in whether you get the C4 room name or the Alexa room name if you try voice commands using the rooms.  So you have Alexa group names that match C4 room names and have no issues?

I think you’re referring to conflicts between the Alexa Groups, which are typically set to the room name, and the room itself in Control4, which Alexa also picks up when running device discovery. I’m wondering if the rooms can be unchecked on the C4 website Alexa integration. In Alexa, it shows up as a room, but it doesn’t have any functionality besides conflicting with Alexa’s group name. I wish the rooms/zones that Alexa picks up after device discovery could be set as an audio endpoint. Then this whole Alexa/Control4 music integration would work much better.

[Benoît van Osch]

Is there an option to use open/close or raise/lower voice commands for blinds? I also would like to be able to set blinds to a certain percentage like lights. I previously used the Epic driver for this but it looks like this driver is no more supported. Any guidance on this would be great.   

[lippavisual]

Read about Alexa integration on the C4 site.  It’s all explained.

[chopedogg88]

You can create routines in the Alexa app for raise/lower or whatever phrase you want to say, like "Alexa show me the view" and have the routine send the on or off command to the voice scene. Easy.