Amazon Echo rolls out Echo Spatial Perception

[aruffell (Alex)]

@Mbhforum

Yes, the problem is, not all the names work. For example, I tried “Turn on Living Room Nick Jr.”, and it doesn’t work, where as “Turn on Bedroom Nick Jr.”. does. Once I find a name that works, I want to stick with it.

Alexa typically gets all of mine right. My naming convention is - for example:

Master Bedroom Fan
Master Bedroom Table Lamp
Master Bathroom Light
Living Room Light
Marco’s Bedroom Light
Marco’s Bedroom White Noise
etc

I am guessing that certain words are ignored so you need enough for Alexa to still differentiate which device you are talking about. Also, “JR.” might be adding to the problem. As a test, try to spell it out to “junior”. I believe there are one or more threads on ST regarding Echo naming quirks.

One of them is:

Echo Naming Quirks

Please add more as you find them. echo does not do well with device names that include numbers, like "kitchen 1." If you have a device with a name like this, and you don’t want to change it because you like having that name for your smartthings dashboard, then just put the device into an echo group of one and give it a group name that echo does like. Echo does not like the group name “everything.” Some possible alternatives include “house” or “all devices” Echo will always accept “turn on” or “switch on.” Iris has a list of 20 “basic” command formats for switches and thermostats that echo should always accept (although using a rigid command format sort of defeats the purpose of having echo’s natural language skills). But at least you could use these to test a particular prob…

The one that fails 80% of the time is “Turn on nook light” (breakfast nook). Any other name suggestions would be welcome…