Alexa Service and a Google Assistant one?

Questions
#1

Hi

I’ve just added an Alexa tile to my home remote app. It works I can ask Alexa what time is it? And she responds and I was able to ask Alexa to turn on a switch plug.

image

If you press the Alexa tile and don’t say anything you get an error on screen.

Screenshot_20201125_084229_com.thehomeremote.homeremote~2
Screenshot_20201125_084229_com.thehomeremote.homeremote~21080×710 86.1 KB

I’ve just noticed in the Windows app the icon doesn’t have the microphone on it but it does in Android.

image

image

I use Google Home speakers and ChromeCast devices throughout the house however not Alexa devices.

Do you have any plans for any kind of Google Home / Assistant / ChromeCast integration in the future ?

Thank you.

#2

The SDKs to add a built-in Google Assistant are still in the experimental stages & not available for commercial use. I’d be a little hesitant to do any work on that right now.
https://developers.google.com/assistant/sdk/overview

I talked a little bit about this here as well…

1 Like
#3

EZLO has incorporated GA into their new hub architecture in kind of a unique way. Rather than using a voice command they allow you to send the command to GA in text format. I can see this being useful via Home Remote. It would allow any device with GA support to be controlled thru Home Remote with out it being officially supported by Home Remote.

#4

Yeah, that’s the same idea I brought up here. Just use the system’s text-to-speech services to convert a text command to a voice command.

#5

But is it only for non commercial use?, EZLO is certainly a commercial venture.

#6

The website makes it pretty clear that it’s not supposed to be used commercially yet. Maybe Ezlo is hoping that restriction will be lifted when they go live. Ezlo is still in the development stages, aren’t they?
https://developers.google.com/assistant/sdk/overview

#7

Yes, I see your point.

#8

They are calling it Ezlo VOI

We can create scenes on the Ezlo hub to send text commands to either Google Home or Amazon Alexa, to then be able to control any device that those voice assistants may support, that the Ezlo hub itself doesn’t directly have support for.

1 Like
#9

The SDK Terms of service specifies that you can not commercialize your project without written permission from Google.

So the question is, is it just a matter of having permission granted?

https://developers.google.com/assistant/sdk/terms-of-service

#10

I don’t know what Ezlo have or haven’t done in that respect.

#11

So what about ChromeCast support of some description ?

Perhaps to be able to see what is currently playing on a particular Google ChromeCast device.

Not sure what else could be done with them via a 3rd party dashboard app?

Basic playback transport controls possibly ?

Thanks

#12

I myself am just a little hesitant to start work on integrating the Google Assistant SDK knowing that it could be dependent on written permission from Google. Most devices out there support both Alexa & Google. The Home Remote already uses the Alexa SDK so adding this feature to the Alexa integration would make the most sense. It shouldn’t require too much development time.

#13

Submit a feature request for Chromecast support. That would be independent of the Google Assistant SDK we are talking about here. Most of the Chromecast implementations I found on GitHub are based on sending commands. A little unsure if we can get state information back from it.

#14

That may change now that the new Chromecast with Google TV has been released, obviously that device is a completely different beast to the old Chromecast devices

#15

I get it Bill and I would not suggest you work on anything before getting permission from Google but if it is simple enough to do so and to implement then perhaps it is worth looking at. All I can say is i personally would like to see it as I do not have plans to implement Alexa since I have invested in GA.

1 Like