I have a roundabout way to automate a robot vacuum that doesn’t connect to Smartthings but does connect to Alexa (ok it does connect to Smartthings but it’s way beyond my expertise). I had a simulated switch that when changed would have a tablet speak “Alexa, turn {switch} vacuum.” It worked just fine until the tablet has basically bit the dust.
Now I’m looking at routines via Alexa. I can use contact sensors to trigger the vacuum to turn on/off. I’ve created a virtual contact sensor but was really hoping I could change the values from open/closed to on/off. Or even better, running/charging. Any ideas how to do this? Also without tripping up Alexa if she’s looking for an open/close status. Thank you all in advance!
Simple- use your simulated switch as you already are. Do an Alexa Discovery so she sees your simulated switch.
Go into ‘Routines’ in the Alexa app and set up a routine for…
When this happens: {voice} Alexa hears xxxxx,
{Add Action}, {Smart Home}, NameOfSimulatedSwitch.
You could even say “Alexa, power that sucker up!” if you wanted to. LOL
Oh, I just re-read your question… did you mean that you can no longer use a simulated switch because your tablet died? You don’t need the tablet to create a simulated switch, but I don’t know how to explain how you should do it… So… If you want to use a Contacts sensor, you can still follow my Alexa instructions above… Just make the routine open the contact sensor.
Yeah I had a simulated switch that would turn on and off by various triggers via WebCoRE. Another piston in WebCoRE would send an auto notification via Tasker to a tablet that would then speak the words “Alexa, turn {switch} vacuum.”
This is purely for automation (mostly when leaving the house). If I want the vacuum to run any other time, I can just tell Alexa to turn on the vacuum. Using Alexa’s routines I can have the state of a contact sensors turn on/off the vacuum. I’ve got that all squared away. What I’m trying to do is just change the text in the Smartthings app so instead of open/closed the virtual sensor says on/off or running/charging. It really doesn’t matter, it’s just for looks. But I like this idea better than seeing open and closed and remembering which means it’s running and which means it’s charging. Any ideas? Sorry for the confusion!
I think this is it! It looks like they’re doing exactly what I want, a switch that activates an Alexa routine. Only, Alexa only triggers on sensors and not switches. Thank you! I couldn’t see from the posts I saw but do you know how WebCoRE recognizes the device?
The DTH used to trigger echo routines will be seen as two different devices: a switch and a contact sensor.
When you turn on the switch, the contact sensor will appear “open.”
When you turn off the switch, the contact sensor will appear “closed.”
This allows you to put the switch into any automation, including the official smart lights feature, a routine, webcore, etc. and then as you change the state of that switch, the state of the contact sensor changes as well.
