Amazon-Echo Logikbaustein

[BenGee]

Hi Werner

I now have both languages (Germand and English US) setup for the skill but they both reference to the same Lambda function. How can I check the region for the Lambda function? The region of the skill is just normal Europe.
The trigger is added and enabled, the correct ARN is filled in.
I am a little bit out of options. Is there any log of what Alexa is requesting when I press the 'discover devices' button in the Alexa app?

Greetings
Ben

[wernerL]

Hi Ben,

after you sign in into the AWS-Console, you see the region in the upper right corner. For Alexa in Europe you have to choose (EU Ireland).

Unfortunately there is no log in the Alexa App or the Smart-Home Skill, as far as I know.
When you setup a Custom-Skill you have the ability to test the connection between the skill and the Lambda-function, but not for Smart-Home Skills.

I also ran out of ideas in the moment. The last thing you could try is deleting the Skill in the Alexa App und set it up a second time.
Give me a little time to evaluate, if the english setup of the echo has something to do with your problem.

Best regards
Werner

[BenGee]

Hi Werner

The region is correct. Is there a way I can put everything in a Custom Skill instead of a Smart Home Skill?
Thank you for the help, it is much appreciated!
Let me know when you found something more. I will now try and setup the Echo with a German account and German language.

Best regards
Ben

[sxs125]

Hi Werner and Ben,

Can it be hardware related?
I have exact the same problem as Ben. In Belgium we cannot buy an echo so I suppose he also bought an American Echo like me?
You guys here have a German edition I suppose? Maybe that makes a difference?

I'd like to help and find a soultion.

Best Regards,

Yves

[daniel.duese]

...wusste gar nicht, dass das hier ein Englisches Forum ist.

Duck und weg

[wernerL]

Hi Yves,

I don't think so. I bought my first Echo Dot from the UK and it's working fine.

Best regards
Werner

[wernerL]

Hi Ben,

the HS-AmazonEcho project on github contains both, the Smart Home and the Custom skill.
The Smart Home Skill let you control your devices without an invocation name. So you just say "Alexa, turn on the kitchen light". The only commands you can use with the Smart Home Skill are turn on/off, set percent, and set room temperature.

For the Custom Skill you have to use an invocation name. If you choose homeserver for example, you have to say "Alexa, tell homeserver to turn on the kitchen light".
The Custom skill is a superset of the Smart Home Skill. It allows you in addition to query values from your KNX-System. In the upcoming V0.4 you could also use different commands such as move, open, close, ... not only on or off.

Examples-Queries for the Custom skill:

Alexa ask homesever,

• is the kitchen light on?
• what is the current temperature in the living room?
• how many doors are open?
• give me the state of the building
• ...

The Custom-Skill uses the same "Logikbaustein" and Lambda-Function. So you only have to setup the Custom Skill (Wiki chapter "6. Alexa Custom Skill anbinden (optional)").

The big problem is, the uttterances you have to use and the answers you get are german!
Currently there is no english version - sorry.

Best regards
Werner

[wernerL]

Hallo zusammen,

stört es euch, wenn zwischendurch englische Beiträge kommen?
Ich habe keine Ahnung wie das hier im Forum gehandhabt wird.
Macht man dafür einen eigenen Thread auf?

Gruß
Werner

[BenGee]

Hallo

Es tut mir leid, dass ich nicht Deutsch sprechen kann. Dies ist jedoch nur eine der Foren, in denen es erörtert wird.
Wenn es wirklich stört würde ich wirklich gerne zu einem separaten Thread zu bewegen.
Dies ist Google Translate Deutsch so..

Viele Grüße
Ben

Now I will continue in English.
I am in contact with Amazon.co.uk for further help with this issue so I will keep you posted when they can tell me something more.
When I get this working maybe I will try and translate everything in English.

Kind regards
Ben

[BenGee]

Hallo!

Ich erhielt die folgende E-Mail von Amazon:

Wenn Sie deutsche Skills auf Ihrem Gerät verwenden möchten, müssen Sie die Gerätesprache auf Deutsch einstellen. Außerdem muss Ihr Amazon Marketplace auf Amazon.de sein. Da Ihr Marketplace im Moment noch nicht definiert ist, können Sie Ihn auf Amazon.de festlegen, wenn Sie auf Amazon.de eine kostenlose digitale Bestellung tätigen, wie zum Beispiel der Kauf von dem eBook "Max und Moritz". Anschließend sollte der Marketplace auf Amazon.de festgelegt sein. Nun sollten auch die deutschen Skills aktiviert werden können. Bitte beachten Sie, dass nur Kunden die in Deutschland oder Österreich leben, vollen Zugriff auf Alexa haben. Da Sie sich in Belgien befinden, kann Amazon Ihre Nutzung möglicherweise einschränken.

Also ich denke, die Sprache ist wichtiger, als wir denken.

Viele Grüße
Ben

[wernerL]

Hi Ben,

after struggling for some time to get an amazon account for the US marketplace and the alexa app to grant me access to US skills (for UK skills, it seems that I need an UK-address), I think I got my test environment running. The Alexa App looks a bit strange though, because it still shows some parts in german - but whatever.

Now I could reproduce your problem (Alexa finds no devices) and maybe found the solution:

Amazon: Steps to Create a Smart Home Skill:
... Make sure you’ve selected the N.Virginia for English (US) skills or the EU (Ireland) region for English (UK) and German skills. The region is displayed in the upper right corner. Providing your Lambda function in the correct region prevents latency issues.

I switched the region in the AWS-Console to "N. Virginia" and set up another copy of the Lambda-Function there. After that, I configured the Smart Home skill to use the Lambda-Function in "N. Virginia".
After that my US-Alexa was able to discover my devices.

Could it be that your Alexa is also connected to the US Skills market?

Greetings
Werner

[BenGee]

Hi Werner!

You are absolutely amazing! It all works perfect now, I am going to expand the appliances because I only have one light and one thermostat configured.
When I want to use the custom skills, which document needs to be translated? And is it just as easy as translate al the German content to English or are there some specific words to use?

Thank you so so much, your work is much appreciated!

Greetings
Ben

[wernerL]

Hi Ben,

I'm afraid it's not just translation work that has to be done.

Part 1: changing the Amazon Custom Skill to recognize english commands:
In case the german intent schema I developed, fit for the english language, than may be just the Custom Slot Types and Sample Utterances must be translated.
If not, than a lot of more work is necessary.

Part 2: changing/enhancement of the Lambda-Function for building the correct answers
Most of the code in the Lambda-Function is for generating the grammatical correct german answers for the query commands (or at least trying to).
Although I tried to seperate the language specific parts from the "normal" code, there has certainly work to be done here.

• For all control commands the Custom Skill just answers with "Okay", so I guess that would be no problem.
• For all query commands the answer is build in the Lambda-Function, with just on exception: queries that look for the "text" attribute in the Json-Configuration are sent 1:1 back to Alexa.(Status and Status Report)

If you really wan't to give it a try, I would suggest to wait a little bit longer till I release V0.4.

As you see from my answers - my english isn't that good to be a lot of help here.

Best Regards
Werner

P.S.: Do you have latency issues when you use N. Virginia?

[BenGee]

Hi Werner!

So from what I understand, it's not that easy to translate everything in English. When you eventually release V0.4, I will have a look at how difficult it is to make an English version and decide on that wether I go trough with it or not.
I really do not have serious latency issues. The lights respond pretty quick. I have another module up and running that is locally stored to control the lights etc. with Apple Homekit and it's just as fast.

Best regards
Ben

[Hotstepper13]

So ihr lieben,

ich habs getan und heute Version 1.0 meiner Bridge veröffentlicht. Um die Verwirrung nicht noch zu steigern, hab ich nen eigenen Beitrag dafür aufgemacht und habe quer referenziert:

https://knx-user-forum.de/forum/%C3%...nternettraffic


Beste Grüße

Frank