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Author Topic: Amazon Echo and X10  (Read 23698 times)

fegarex

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Amazon Echo and X10
« on: July 12, 2015, 06:37:56 PM »

Anyone looked into the Amazon Echo and figure out how to control X10?
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HA Dave

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Re: Amazon Echo and X10
« Reply #1 on: July 13, 2015, 02:34:31 AM »

Looked into yes. Found a way to control X10 with it... no.

I've been using a voice control product (BVC) for several years now. You can search the forums for BVC... tons on here about it.

The failure of X10 has hurt. But the technology has changed a lot too. It is nice to have the computer (voice) remind me of things, like the garage door was left open, or someone is in the yard, or just remind me the trash needs to be taken out to the curb... before it gets dark. And my phone controls everything now too. And... can answer questions and play music or even movies. And with things like Roku and smart TV's, and blue tooth.... well the limits get harder to define.

But echo does look interesting. I really like cloud based voice recognition!
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fegarex

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Re: Amazon Echo and X10
« Reply #2 on: July 13, 2015, 04:59:17 AM »

Thanks. I guess I will need to look at BVC more. I use Google Voice for just about everything now and have my X10 using TAC and X10 Voice Commander (two different locations). Just having a stand alone item I could wake and give a light command interested me.
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HA Dave

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Re: Amazon Echo and X10
« Reply #3 on: July 14, 2015, 02:02:15 AM »

Believe it or not.... I sometimes think the simplest solutions can be the best. Like a timer or macro based on sunset/sunrise. A motion sensor, Or even a "clapper". Or maybe just a small (LED) nightlight.
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culrybrian

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Re: Amazon Echo and X10
« Reply #4 on: November 13, 2016, 02:15:27 PM »

Anyone looked into the Amazon Echo and figure out how to control X10?

There has to be a way via Echo sending soething like an email, EventGhost on a PC intercepting, then EventGhost sending the command to a cheapie X10 controller device.
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dhouston

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Re: Amazon Echo and X10
« Reply #5 on: November 13, 2016, 02:34:21 PM »

I haven't looked into it (because it has a cloudy future  ::)) but there is an API that you might use to interface in some way.
https://developer.amazon.com/public/solutions/alexa/alexa-skills-kit/getting-started-guide

I am investigating a couple of ESP32 based devices that can handle WiFi, Bluetooth and USB-Serial links which might be used with a CM11A (or XTB-232)  or interface via IR or RF to talk to the IR543A, IR543AH, TM751, RR501 etc.

My spinal cord injury is getting nastier so it's unlikely I can develop/produce any complicated hardware but that may not be an issue with something like...
https://www.adafruit.com/products/3269
I already have some small RF Receiver boards which might be adaptable to interface with the above to allow Palmpad input to a connected serial device. The ESP32 has just been released and is just now in the hands of developers so it may be a few more months.

I'm also communicating with Sevenhugs about adding a WiFi/BT to IR device so their remote can be used through closet doors, walls, etc. Such a device can easily be converted to send X10 RF.
« Last Edit: November 13, 2016, 02:53:51 PM by dhouston »
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Tuicemen

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Re: Amazon Echo and X10
« Reply #6 on: November 30, 2016, 11:57:03 AM »

I just received a link to make this possible.
Apparently it works with google home as well. :)%
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Control-X10-Devices-With-Amazon-Echo-or-Goo/

I don't have either so I can't play with this (yet) :(
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dhouston

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Re: Amazon Echo and X10
« Reply #7 on: November 30, 2016, 12:18:07 PM »

I only skimmed through the presentation but  am sure the ESP32 (with 2 serial channels) could eliminate the need for a PC plus allow WiFi, Bluetooth and USB (PC link only) as well as serial input/output links. It also has 8 infrared channels built in. They can be used for input or output and will work seamlessly with RF receivers/transmitters as well. So, it can interface with everything except the CM15A.

And Erel, of Basic4Arduino, has just ordered an ESP32 in Arduino clothing so it probably won't be long before Basic4Arduino supports the ESP32, making projects like this much easier on the wallet.
http://www.analoglamb.com/product/maple-esp32/

For those who would prefer a cloudless approach, Windows 10 has speech recognition built in so it should be possible. I've seen some implementations using the Windows 10 IoT Core package on a RPi2/RPi3.
https://www.hackster.io/krvarma/rpivoice-051857
« Last Edit: November 30, 2016, 01:35:23 PM by dhouston »
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Tuicemen

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Re: Amazon Echo and X10
« Reply #8 on: November 30, 2016, 01:46:41 PM »

I just got word I have an echo dot coming.
So I may get to play after all.
I put Linux on my android MiniTV stick and have played with controlling X10 with it so I'll dig it out too and see about using it as well.
I do have a couple min (low power) windows PCs so that's what I'll focus on.

If Erel gets something working for basic4arduino I'm sure code will follow for his other platform development tools. :)%
Looks like I'll have a few things to putter with this winter!
 >!
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toasterking

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Re: Amazon Echo and X10
« Reply #9 on: November 30, 2016, 06:42:47 PM »

Not completely on-topic but also not completely off-topic:  I threw together a crude proof of concept last weekend to control my X10 stuff via voice from my Android phone.

I installed the Tasker app on my phone, which is a sort of simplified GUI-driven scripting language designed around automating the Android experience.  I created a task that prompts the user to speak and saves the recognized speech into a variable.  It then does an HTTP POST to my server and sends the content of the variable as a POST parameter.  It communicates with the server via HTTPS (TLS 1.2) and uses HTTP Basic authentication on top of that, so I am not too concerned about the data going over the Internet.  On the server side, I am running nginx to handle the HTTPS connection, which tunnels the traffic to Quick 'n Easy Web Server, which I have configured with an instance (which I have heavily modified) of the AutoIt CGI project as a CGI helper.  On the back end, the HTTP POST coming from my phone is handed off to an AutoIt script I wrote which does a simple string comparison on the input in a simple Switch block, since this is just a proof of concept.  It controls X10 via AHCMD.EXE from the ActiveHome SDK.  There are much better ways of doing the latter, but again, proof of concept.  I'm using an XTB-232 to send the commands to the powerline.  The script can send a response back as a simple string of unicode text.  Normally, that response would be read by a browser.  In this case, it is read by my task running in Tasker on the phone and stored in another variable.  That response is then spoken back and displayed on the screen.

The end result is that I can tap an icon on my phone's home screen and say, "Turn on all the outside lights."  In about a second, all my outside lights are on and the phone displays and speaks back, "All of the outside lights are now on."  It doesn't do much more than that currently, and since it is doing a direct string comparison, it only recognizes predefined full sentences verbatim.

I could have stuck to using my wireless LAN only and obviated the need for the secure HTTPS/TLS part, making the server configuration simpler.  I also could have easily used a scripting language more commonly used with CGI scripts for the web, such as ASP or PHP, making it a more commonly accessible solution.  Regardless of the minutia, the purpose of this post is to show that it can actually be very simple to build a speech solution that works without even buying any new gadgets!  The Tasker task for this demo can be done in 5 actions; the AutoIt script can be done in 20 lines.

I plan to write a more complex speech parser (probably similar to what has been done with BVC, though I've never used it to confirm) and integrate this with another project I've been writing for home automation that already gives me much better flexibility and control over X10 than I ever had with AHP.  I haven't yet decided whether I will put in the effort to make it useful to and available to others.  Before anyone volunteers to tell me, I am aware that some of this can be done with solutions that are already available, but I decided I will only be happy if I build it myself and have complete control over the results.  :)
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HA Dave

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Re: Amazon Echo and X10
« Reply #10 on: November 30, 2016, 09:18:05 PM »

........ I threw together a crude proof of concept last weekend to control my X10 stuff via voice from my Android phone.......

The end result is that I can tap an icon on my phone's home screen and say, "Turn on all the outside lights."  In about a second, all my outside lights are on and the phone displays and speaks back, "All of the outside lights are now on." .....

Very cool toasterking!

I am an old BVC user myself... and big fan of voice control (for about a decade). And I have also been using an app on my iphone and a small laptop with server program and a CM19A to control X10 with my phone... while at home.

Then.... Apple just recently added Homekit automation. I added a couple ihome devices and can currently use my iPhone to control those devices by voice command (via Siri), or by app control from anywhere (with voice confirmation).

I think you're on the right track toasterking. I think these phone are our virtual companions.

Meanwhile... I think Amazon can mix right in with all these other devices too. Why not ask Alexa to turn up the music while dimming lights on the phone.... and posting to the X10 forum.
« Last Edit: November 30, 2016, 09:23:00 PM by HA Dave »
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toasterking

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Re: Amazon Echo and X10
« Reply #11 on: November 30, 2016, 10:21:47 PM »

Glad you approve, HA Dave! I admit I haven't looked into Homekit very much and don't really know what it's capable of, but there are a couple of things I like about my own approach so far:
  • It doesn't depend on any proprietary technology that would limit compatibility.
  • While I reap the benefits of Android updates continually improving the speech recognition, this works using offline speech recognition the same as dictation does.  The whole internet could go away and this would still work (on my wireless LAN only, of course).

If BVC can accept a typed or pasted sentence, file input, etc. in lieu of spoken text, I could probably even pass the received speech to it on the server and not even write a better speech parser, but of course I'm going to try to write one anyway.  One of the cool things about running an AutoIt script on the server is that it can control pretty much any Windows application and simulate user input in a GUI, so it's very versatile.

I also like not having to carry around something that I wouldn't already be carrying, such as a long-range Bluetooth or radio headset I once considered for this application.  (And this solves the headset range issue, too.)  Of course, everyone wants to carry nothing and just be able to yell into thin air and have the house do their bidding, so I certainly see the appeal of using the Amazon Echo for this.  The Echo seems like a commercially-funded realization of the pipe dream of those who spent their time rigging up baby monitors and speakers to their PC and countless hours tweaking to get a fraction of the functionality not so long ago.  But what if I'm outside, too far away from the mic, it's too noisy in the room, etc?  Even as good as the Echo seems to be, I've always thought that carrying the mic with you would be the way to go.

And as far as functionality of the device recognizing the speech, I know that many have been successful in using something like BVC to control their automation and even run simple scripts that would do things like read the weather forecast.  But there's no way it could approach the resourcefulness of a service like Siri or Google Now or Alexa.  Whether it's Homekit or this web server hack, this is why I like having it all in one place.  For me, Google Now can handle the tough tasks like converting cubits to feet or adding something to my grocery list or looking up tweets or starting a voice call.  If I just want my lights turned on, send that to my server.  I see that there is also a Tasker plugin called AutoVoice that would allow me to effectively create custom Google Now commands.  Then I wouldn't even have to think about when to tap that icon for my server.
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dhouston

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Re: Amazon Echo and X10
« Reply #12 on: December 01, 2016, 07:31:40 AM »

I threw together a crude proof of concept last weekend to control my X10 stuff via voice from my Android phone.

Very impressive.  :)%

Unfortunately, Android phones have become the favorite target of malware creators.
https://cpbotha.net/2016/11/27/android-security-in-2016-is-a-mess/

What we need is a method to mind meld with our HA controller of choice so we can even dispense with the cell phone. And I don't mean...
https://www.mindmeld.com/
« Last Edit: December 01, 2016, 07:33:24 AM by dhouston »
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toasterking

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Re: Amazon Echo and X10
« Reply #13 on: December 01, 2016, 08:54:41 AM »

Thanks, dhouston.  I am well aware of the security problems with Android and I believe that Google is as much to blame as are the OEMs.  I also acknowledge that iOS is a superior platform in many ways, with a more optimized and secure OS.  However, I reluctantly use Android because it affords me a much higher degree of customizability and the ability to install absolutely any kind of app (which of course contributes to the security issue) which I don't have to the same degree on iOS even if jailbroken (which also forfeits some security).

Ironically, I have a BlackBerry PRIV, which is in the "acceptable security update record" section of the article you referenced, yet although the OEM releases timely updates, my carrier (Verizon) is consistently months behind in deploying the security updates and a year behind for major releases.  There are many problems with Android's second-rate app ecosystem and service lifecycle.  Incidentally, I could deploy the updates myself if I had purchased the unlocked version of the device directly from BlackBerry.  However, my employer does not like to buy me phones that way.  ;) 

I'm open to the mind meld proposal, although I see it as a much larger cause for security concerns!  :)
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lviper

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Re: Amazon Echo and X10
« Reply #14 on: December 01, 2016, 05:12:31 PM »

I know everyone here likes or prefers to use AHP or Tuiceman's program, but I switched over to Home Control Assistant a while back and just got an echo dot. The HCA software has an Amazon approved skill and voice control from Alexa to HCA just worked. Had it up and running in minutes. It took longer to setup the dot.
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