Alexa, cook my sandwich

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So I was just using my mini George Foreman to heat up a nice sandwich when an idea struck. Yes, those can be very dangerous. Anyway, George is quite old-fashioned, no on/off switch. You just plug him in when you want to use him and unplug it when you’re done. Hmm, a smart plug perhaps? That part is easy. But how to control for how LONG to keep the smart switch on? I am not aware of any way to get Alexa to store a value. As I’m typing this, more ideas are firing. Sounds like an Alexa skill perhaps?

Is this something that @MichaelS’ Ask Alexa can already handle?

And yes, this me capturing thoughts as I am having them and sharing them with you. Constructive ideas are welcome.

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Get Alexa to turn on a virtual switch with a dth that automatically turns off after a configurable number of minutes
Then get the smart outlet to follow the virtual switch.
That way you just need alexa to turn it on…, it will turn itself off

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You can set up a simple Smart Lighting rule using Power Allowance to turn the outlet off after a set number of minutes. I do the same thing to ease my wife’s anxiety about leaving her straightener on. Just tell Alexa to turn the outlet on, and Smart Lighting will turn it off later.

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But that value would need to be hard coded? Or can I capture a time interval via voice?

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I would use Ask Alexa, a 110 outlet plug and WebCore.

Create a WebCore Trigger in AA that activates a WebCore Piston.
If it is always a certain amount of time to cook the sandwich, you can write the piston to turn on the switch, wait, then turn off the switch based on a timer
If the time is variable you can actually tell AA to send the time to the piston

So yes…you can do that…or you could just grill it on the stove, but that is so 1969.

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One of these days there will be Alexa controlled appliances

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Yes, but most in this group don’t wait for “soon”, they come up with their own ways.

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Who’s going to make the sandwich and put it on the grill?

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I have a couple of dth I made with a configurable off in the settings.
One for seconds and one for minutes

I would have used one of these

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Easy way to automate it: webcore. when the Zwave smoke detector alarm starts whooping, turn off the smartplug.

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And what happens after the sandwich starts cooking & the Internet goes out? :flushed:

It doesn’t seem failsafe. Personally, I wouldn’t take a chance on this scheme…

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Google home can do this through IFTTT integration. You can say a command with a number component and then pass that to SmartThings through Webhooks. I use this for a whole bunch of commands when I want something to come back on in a certain number of minutes.

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This seems like it needs more automation. Just adjusting the heating time isn’t enough. Needs a sandwich maker robot, a conveyor belt, and a pizza-oven style pair of heating elements, top and bottom, with temperature monitoring to determine heat output and conveyor belt speed.

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