Amazon Alexa Integration?

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CardinalBrew

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Has anyone looked into the possibilities of incorporating Amazon Alexa/Echo with automated brewing software? Just picked up an Echo Dot and the little thing is pretty impressive.

I run StrangeBrew Elsinore (thanks Doug!), CraftBeerPi (thanks Manuel!), and a couple instances of BrewPi (thanks Elco, FuzzeWuzze, and Pocketmon!). I'm no programmer, but it seems like the applications and SDK available for the Alexa enabled device would make some integration pretty easy. I may be wrong though. The first thing I'd like to integrate is the ESP8266 "BrewPiLess" from pocketmon. That is what runs my fermentation chamber. I'm doing some digging now... if it falls within my realm of ability I'll be sure to pass the knowledge on.

I'm thinking it would be cool to be able to say, "Alexa, what temperature is my fermenter?" or "Alexa, how much time is left for my mash?" It may not be too useful but I guess the tinkerer in me will never be satisfied. :tank:
 
Yep. I built the Hopback app for Echo, and also have some experience with BrewPi.

Building an app for Alexa is actually pretty easy, but one thing to be aware of is that all Alexa apps are actually glorified webpages/webservices. As a result you must have a way to get your data from your local device out onto the internet in order for Alexa to have a chance at picking it up.

I'm actually working on a project at the moment to rebuild brewpi-www using Python/Django and have as one of the longer term goals some kind of cloud integration. If that ends up happening, I'll definitely build an Alexa app to tie in with it since I agree - it would be neat to be able to check on fermentation progress.

It would be even neater to be able to say "Alexa, cold crash my beer", but somehow I don't see that getting built any time soon. ;)
 
Thorrak said:
Yep. I built the Hopback app for Echo, and also have some experience with BrewPi.

Building an app for Alexa is actually pretty easy, but one thing to be aware of is that all Alexa apps are actually glorified webpages/webservices. As a result you must have a way to get your data from your local device out onto the internet in order for Alexa to have a chance at picking it up.

I'm actually working on a project at the moment to rebuild brewpi-www using Python/Django and have as one of the longer term goals some kind of cloud integration. If that ends up happening, I'll definitely build an Alexa app to tie in with it since I agree - it would be neat to be able to check on fermentation progress.

It would be even neater to be able to say "Alexa, cold crash my beer", but somehow I don't see that getting built any time soon. ;)
Click to expand...



I see, I see. As these wireless hydrometers become more reliable/available/integrated it'll have any more appeal. "...Alexa, what is the SG of my Bourbon Stout?" :rockin:

I've been keeping tabs on your Django project via the ESP8266 Brewpi thread! I ran your pi+ESP8266 solution for a while, but I think I am asking too much from this old RPi and I started having connection issues. Fortunately the $4 Wemos chip handled pocketmon's release (including your port of brewpi) quite well alone. Very impressive work. Can't wait to give the Brewpi-Django a try, especially if it does jive with Alexa.
 
Its actually on my list of things to do (its a long list) for BrewTroller. I actually setup a development environment to play with and built a test/helloworld kinda thing to make sure I knew the basics.

Question, from an automated brewing perspective, what kind of things would you expect/want to do with an echo or dot and your rig?
 
From a brewing perspective, it would be cool to say "Alexa, tell my brewery to Mash for 60 minutes at 152 degrees." Then, after an hour, Alexa would tell you that your mash is complete. Then during the boil, you could say "Set duty cycle to 85%." or something like that. Also "pump on" or "pump off" might have some use.

All-in-all, I think it would be more about the cool factor than the utility.


In other news, I was successful in hacking together other people's work so that now when I say, "Alexa, check my fermentation temp," she responds with the current temperature. :ban:

I logged my data from the ESP8266 brewpi device to ThingSpeak, then used this tutorial to make Alexa access that data. Just changed a few words here and there and modified the ThingSpeak channel. Pretty cool.

Tutorial: https://www.hackster.io/kayakpete/amazon-echo-alexa-thingspeak-data-checker-8677c0
 
CardinalBrew said:
Then, after an hour, Alexa would tell you that your mash is complete.
Click to expand...

I don't think Alexa allows services to push messages to devices, unfortunately. Soon, hopefully?


CardinalBrew said:
In other news, I was successful in hacking together other people's work so that now when I say, "Alexa, check my fermentation temp," she responds with the current temperature. :ban:

I logged my data from the ESP8266 brewpi device to ThingSpeak, then used this tutorial to make Alexa access that data. Just changed a few words here and there and modified the ThingSpeak channel. Pretty cool.

Tutorial: https://www.hackster.io/kayakpete/amazon-echo-alexa-thingspeak-data-checker-8677c0
Click to expand...

Holy crap, that's awesome. Nice work!
 
Thorrak said:
I don't think Alexa allows services to push messages to devices, unfortunately. Soon, hopefully?
Click to expand...

I was thinking the same thing, but I wonder if you couldn't use the built in timer functionality available in echo.
 
As soon as I can write up the documentation for how to set it up, I'll be releasing an Alexa interface for the BCS. A couple of us have been running it for a while now and it works pretty good. I designed it using the Smarthome Skills for Alexa which gives you on/off and temperature control, which really is all you need for brewing.

You can say things like:
Alexa, turn on Mash Process
Alexa, activate Fly Sparge
Alexa, set Mash Temperature to 152

ECC_Alexa.png



Next up is a Siri interface. I have the on/off working there, but I still need to get temperature control working.
 
No offense to anyone but Amazon. IMO, controlling your HOME devices by letting them be controlled by INTERNET is not a good idea. Amazon wants to track or control the usage of your SMART devices. That's not what I want to do or want them to do.
 
Plus, that kind of thing is always on, always listening. Listening to every word you say. Keeping track of how many times you say some things.

Nope. Never will have one of those kinds of things, ever.
 
JonW said:
I thought this thread was for those people who WANT TO use Alexa integrations, not for those who DO NOT WANT TO.
Click to expand...

I am not against Amazon Alexa. I just don't like the fact that Amazon could have open the API for WeMo and Philips Hue, but it enforces to use the cloud.
IMO, the involve of cloud is not necessary.The only reason why Amazon does it is that Amazon wants to control it. (Apple does it in a worse way, but this thread is for Amazon Alexa. Right?)

There's already hack to emulate WeMo switches and Philips Hues. That might be a better way by which you don't need to register as an Amazon developer, and your command doesn't need to travel around the internet and back to your home.
 
JonW said:
I thought this thread was for those people who WANT TO use Alexa integrations, not for those who DO NOT WANT TO.
Click to expand...

Funny. I thought it might be for discourse for people who are looking at all sides of why they may and may not want to use this service.
 
pocketmon said:
I am not against Amazon Alexa. I just don't like the fact that Amazon could have open the API for WeMo and Philips Hue, but it enforces to use the cloud.
IMO, the involve of cloud is not necessary.The only reason why Amazon does it is that Amazon wants to control it. (Apple does it in a worse way, but this thread is for Amazon Alexa. Right?)

There's already hack to emulate WeMo switches and Philips Hues. That might be a better way by which you don't need to register as an Amazon developer, and your command doesn't need to travel around the internet and back to your home.
Click to expand...

The WeMo or Hue hacks don't support temperature control. Also, all Alexa traffic goes through Amazon. There is no local communication.

I've implemented Apple Homekit & Siri control of the BCS as well. The additional benefits of that integration is the ability to use a Homekit app to turn things on/off or set temperatures. I'll be releasing that one as soon as I have it all cleaned up and documented.
 
JonW said:
The WeMo or Hue hacks don't support temperature control. Also, all Alexa traffic goes through Amazon. There is no local communication.

I've implemented Apple Homekit & Siri control of the BCS as well. The additional benefits of that integration is the ability to use a Homekit app to turn things on/off or set temperatures. I'll be releasing that one as soon as I have it all cleaned up and documented.
Click to expand...

You must know more than me since you already implemented the function while I don't even have an Echo.

My googling lead me to the following hack, which was done before API was released.
http://hackaday.com/2016/11/23/alexa-make-my-esp8266-do-something/

Alexa does need internet connection, but the WeMo switch and the emulated ones seem to work without a dedicated server.
WeMo switches supports only ON/OFF while Philips Hue can be dimmed by a NUMBER.

I might give it a try when I have an echo.
 
WeMo and Hue do have native support within the Echo/Dot - which does communicate locally. I should have stated that the voice commands are not local. The Echo/Dot's voice commands still have to make the round trip to Amazon, no local processing for voice.

The current solution of needing a developer account may be temporary. If I make a published Alexa app, it would do away with the requirement for the dev account. However, doing so means needing to setup a server that does Oauth2 with Amazon and each user would have to register on the site to store things like their ip, username, password, voice commands (e.g. Turn on Fly Sparge), etc. Not on the radar in the short term.
 
JonW said:
This isn't the debate forum. ;)
Click to expand...

I agree. There are plenty of other places in the wide world of the web for people to debate their paranoia about having these cloud enabled devices listening to their every word that comes out of their mouth. But that's out of the scope of a homebrewing automation forum.
 
JonW said:
For anyone interested in checking out the Amazon Alexa interface to control their BCS, I have now published a "HowTo".

Please visit the ECC/BCS forum for details. http://forum.embeddedcc.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2949
Click to expand...

For the incredibly stupid among us, me, I get the this page, am I supped to just copy and paste the txt you wrote into this space? the whole thing? or just parts? any help appreciated...

ecc.png
 
JonW said:
Yes, all of it. Comments are there for help.
Click to expand...

Ok not sure what I did wrong, I got an execution failed msg...

Execution result: failed(logs)
The area below shows the result returned by your function execution. Learn more about returning results from your function.

{
"errorMessage": "Unexpected token ILLEGAL",
"errorType": "SyntaxError",
"stackTrace": [
"Module._compile (module.js:373:25)",
"Object.Module._extensions..js (module.js:416:10)",
"Module.load (module.js:343:32)",
"Function.Module._load (module.js:300:12)",
"Module.require (module.js:353:17)",
"require (internal/module.js:12:17)"
]
}
 
JonW said:
As soon as I can write up the documentation for how to set it up, I'll be releasing an Alexa interface for the BCS. A couple of us have been running it for a while now and it works pretty good. I designed it using the Smarthome Skills for Alexa which gives you on/off and temperature control, which really is all you need for brewing.

You can say things like:
Alexa, turn on Mash Process
Alexa, activate Fly Sparge
Alexa, set Mash Temperature to 152

ECC_Alexa.png



Next up is a Siri interface. I have the on/off working there, but I still need to get temperature control working.
Click to expand...

Did you ever put something together so Alexa and BCS could interface? I have a "new to me" BCS and love my Alexa - so I'm hoping to use them together.
 
Yeah, I may decide to work with the people at PicoBrew on mine as I deep dive into their solution. I'm not sure how useful it would be, as it would really only perform GET requests and basically tell you what you could read yourself.
 
I have the Alexa BCS working for a couple of years. Just have not figured out how to set up the physical " Computer, bring me a beer!" Yes, you can change the Wake Word to "Computer" instead of Alexa! And for those folks that are worried 2+2=5 (read 1984). We are already there.
 

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